John Adams

As ATM network operators add more complex payments functions, technology providers such as Fiserv and NCR are tweaking the underlying technology to better monitor the machines remotely.

Small businesses are often the toughest sell for payments automation, and WePay is attempting to boost its penetration into this market by offering a new native app for iOS that enables remote invoicing and credit-card charging.

Plastiq, a payments technology company, announced a $6 million round of Series A financing.

Affirm, the new mobile payments company that counts PayPal co-founder Max Levchin among its own founders, is already drawing buzz—and some head-scratching over certain aspects of its business model.

MasterCard is bringing its mobile PayPass contactless payment technology to Brazil, in partnership with Itau, TIM, Redecard and Gemalto.

MasterCard issued a list of providers that have cleared the card network’s best practices bar.

The fast success of South Africa's Standard Bank provides a clue as to why mobile money is attracting so much attention from global payments providers as a way to expand services to underserved areas.

Total System Services has agreed to provide processing services for MLS Direct Network.

Foursquare is adding Visa and MasterCard to its special deals roster, enabling the social media company’s 30 million users to link their credit and debit cards to Foursquare to receive discounts at merchants, according to a report in Ad Age.

With its MasterPass program, MasterCard's mobile-pay strategy seems to be solidifying. But the details show that payments technology is still very fluid.

CO-OP Financial Services hopes the model used in one of the oldest staples of credit union cooperation, the shared branch, can drive new digital commerce innovation such as person-to-person payments and mobile remote deposit capture.

The chip-and-PIN version of PayPal's Here mobile card reader is set to debut overseas this year, but the splash will be felt in the U.S. as well.

At the Apple Store, people don't pay the same way they do everywhere else. They swipe cards on mobile devices and accept emailed receipts instead of printed ones. Now that Google is reportedly kicking the tires on a retail store concept, maybe it can do the same, putting Google Wallet in the spotlight.

Seeing an opportunity to mitigate the growing problem of student loan debt, student finance companies such as SimpleTuition and Sallie Mae are expanding debt management offers, including the use of card payment rewards.

In 2012, identity fraud incidents increased by more than one million victims. Fraudsters stole more than $21 billion overall—the highest amount in three years, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

CoreFirst Bank and Trust is under pressure on two fronts when it comes to payroll cards. It faces strong competition from large banks and other rivals, as well as a heavy state and national regulatory burden.

Card issuers are increasingly using social networks, coupons and rewards to boost mobile payments, but it’s a plan that can backfire if the initiatives get the wrong mix of marketing, demographics and delivery channels.

To give banks another way to interact with customers online, Cardlytics' Facebook rewards app takes the same technology it offers through online banking sites and makes it accessible through Facebook.

Celltick, which integrates mobile payments, targeted marketing and coupons via partnerships with payment providers such as telecoms, plans to target Europe and North America with a program that it contends will provide better customer retention than Groupon, which has embarked on its own mobile payments expansion to improve relationships with merchants.

Visa's introduction of a global mobile money program doesn't make it a pioneer in using handsets to tap underserved locales, but it does bring scale, open-loop flexibility and likely a lot of future bank issuers to a market that's currently heavy on regional telecom partnerships with closed-loop systems.