Kate Fitzgerald

Payments increasingly are the anchor connecting diverse business functions, including in the commercial trucking industry, where tools built into fleet card apps are helping to cut costs and paperwork for fuel taxes, workplace safety and other functions.

Little-noticed during India’s cash-crunch late last year — triggered by the government’s demonetization of about 80% of its currency — was Samsung Pay quietly testing the waters in India with an eye to opening up vital new digital payment options in a nation that relies heavily on cash for everyday transactions.

Digital goods have long been a staple of e-commerce, but many consumers are still not accustomed to using digital wallets to buy low-ticket items. Mastercard hopes to change that by dangling in-store and online deals this month with a live promotion tied to TV's Grammy Awards.

Green Dot Corp.’s move to buy UniRush, the biggest independent prepaid marketer in a steadily consolidating industry, is the latest sign that remaining stalwarts with reloadable cards will need to look in new directions for growth as acquisition targets dwindle.

The first smartwatch in Google's Android Wear lineup supporting NFC payments will soon be available from South Korea’s LG, according to reports.

Any Costco credit card customers befuddled by the fact that they’ve got a state-of-the-art contactless-enabled EMV card in their wallet — and yet Costco itself doesn't accept EMV in stores — may soon see that disconnect end.

The U.K.’s Barclaycard and VocaLink are joining forces to roll out Pay by Bank, an app enabling Barclaycard customers to make purchases on a mobile device without entering payment card details.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has introduced real-time payments leveraging blockchain technology from Ripple, providing a new approach for the bank’s UAE-based customers to send and receive payments across borders.

Spark ATM expects the deal will help expand services offered to local banks and retailers in South Africa and other markets in the region.

The initiative would add payments to the country's national identity system, but the government wants more time to review Mastercard's proposal.

The bank's next big challenge is to find a place where the emerging technology best fits its needs.

Mastercard said the decision confirms the "legitimacy" and "importance" of interchange in our payment system.

Host Card Emulation, which enables mobile payments without reliance on a particular handset, is driving the project in Scotland.

The CFPB several years ago announced plans to introduce formal rules for prepaid cards. Issuers were optimistic, but when the agency finally published its rules, they exceeded 1,600 pages and contained some surprises.

Atlanta-based software provider Oversight Systems is working with Mastercard on a solution to help federal agencies ensure U.S. government spending on purchasing cards and other expenses are in compliance with policies.

Alipay's deal to buy MoneyGram for $880 million may be the centerpiece of its strategy to expand beyond China's borders, but it's not its first move in recent months. The Alibaba payments affiliate has already extended its reach in several other ways.

More than half of consumers visit an ATM at least once a month, although men—and Baby Boomers—tend to get cash more often, according to a new survey from TD Bank.

Boston-based Buildium, which provides a software platform for real estate property managers, has expanded its ePay online payment service to Canada, marking the first region outside the U.S. where Buildium supports electronic payments.

Target Corp. has demonstrated payments innovation in many ways, including participating in an early pilot of mobile payments with Starbucks, and driving its payments volume to lower-cost debit rails via its Red Card.

U.K.-based Rambus Ecebs, a provider of mass-transit ticketing technology, is harnessing Host Card Emulation (HCE) for its new service supporting a virtual ticketing app that can replace physical transit cards.