John Adams

Janet Estep is surrounded by almost constant change, both in her own career and in the quickly evolving technology that pressures many of the established banks that make up Nacha's member roster.

Pamela Joseph is one of the top payments leaders at U.S. Bank, which has had a busy year.

Linda Mantia is excited about contactless payments. In her role as Royal Bank of Canada's executive vice president of cards and payments, she is in a position to use new technology to remove the hurdles that have long hindered the growth of mobile payments.

For Jennifer Miles, 2013 was quite a year to become president of VeriFone Americas, as the terminal maker embarked on aggressive pursuit of new payments technology to improve its performance.

As a payments leader at Fiserv, one of the financial services industry's largest technology companies, Ginger Schmeltzer has been a catalyst for a number of cutting-edge projects at banks.

Melissa Smith, became the president of Wex in May 2013 and took over the CEO job at the start of 2014. In these new roles, she is already spearheading a substantial expansion plan that includes the assimilation of Exxon's Esso Card.

Google Wallet will require Android users to run KitKat, the latest version of the Android operating system, to use the wallet's contactless payments feature as of April 14, according to a post on the Google Wallet support site.

Webster Bank's use of advanced alerting allows it to receive valuable, real-time feedback from its customers about how they prefer to make payments, says Greg Jacobi, senior vice president of distribution and customer experience for Webster Bank.

Some of the toughest types of payments fraud to combat aren't from an overseas hackers den but from everyday people misusing their own accounts or those of a relative, says Rick Lynch, Verifi's senior vice president of business development.

Webster Bank's use of advanced alerting allows it to receive valuable, real-time feedback from its customers about how they prefer to make payments, says Greg Jacobi, senior vice president of distribution and customer experience for Webster Bank.

Brazilian mobile app marketplace developer Bemobi is working with local carriers to handle payments from consumers who don't use or have access to credit cards.

E-commerce payments processor 2Checkout is attempting to win over businesses by enabling the potential clients to accept transactions before it fully vets them.

Chase Merchant Services has developed technology that could have helped its parent company, JPMorgan Chase, deal with the hefty task of reissuing 2 million cards in the wake of the massive Target data breach.

Mobile banking technology company Monitise is attempting to make account alerts two-way conversations, with an eye on marketing and security capabilities for payments applications.

The people who guide tourists to the many attractions of Las Vegas will have the option to be rewarded with a prepaid Visa card, replacing a system of using cash and checks to pay commissions.

EBay has been adamant that its auction and payments businesses are best kept united, but if activist investor Carl Icahn succeeds in his mission to split off PayPal, eBay probably would not exit the payments business completely.

Chase Merchant Services has developed technology that could have helped its parent company, JPMorgan Chase, deal with the hefty task of reissuing 2 million cards in the wake of the massive Target data breach.

Knab, a branchless bank based in Amsterdam, is aiming to attract 250,000 customers by 2017 through the promise of smoother payments.

As Isis shifts its marketing into high gear, the mobile wallet venture is positioning card issuers as vital to driving adoption of its app.

New Media Insight Group and Loop are promoting different types of mobile payment technology designed to avoid interoperability issues with current payment terminals.