Kate Fitzgerald

German car maker Daimler AG has acquired PayCash Europe SA as part of its plans for a broad range of new vehicle-related mobile payment services dubbed “Mercedes Pay," in the latest deal linking automobile manufacturers with payment providers.

Achieving the coveted “top of wallet” status is tough for banks, not least because their own credit and debit cards often compete with one another for priority status with the same customers.

2017 promises to be a defining year for many in the payments industry. Here's a look at what to expect.

Hong Kong-based OKLink, a blockchain-based digital payments network specializing in international remittances, is now available in Vietnam, the twenty-first country it's reached since launching six months ago.

Bigger isn't always better; as card issuers compete to bring in more spending, many are rethinking the way they offer rewards. Some of their approaches focus on streamlining redemption, while others dabble with cutting-edge technology such as virtual reality.

Montreal-based Acceo Solutions Inc. and Mastercard have formed a new partnership to expand Acceo’s in-store payment offering for global e-commerce merchants.

Axis Bank, one of India’s largest private-sector financial institutions, has reportedly become the first bank in the country to partner with Ripple for a blockchain-powered approach to cross-border payment.

Payment companies' efforts to modernize by connecting systems through partnerships and acquisition has invariably caused a chain reaction of competitive issues in the eyes of regulators.

Amazon is revamping its cobranded rewards card, adding a higher tier of rewards for people who pay a $99 annual fee — as 65 million people already do — for Amazon Prime membership.

One of the chronic flaws of retailer-driven loyalty programs is that often it’s hard to actually get the rewards. Consumers complain that it takes too long or steps required are too cumbersome to conveniently redeem their points.

Manhattan-based Municipal Credit Union has launched a cloud-based open API platform from Payveris that supports digital payments and commerce, including account-to-account transfers, bill payment and other services on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.

Miami-based NovoPayment, a payment provider with broad reach in Latin America, has upgraded its platform to support corporate bots enabling consumers to conduct person-to-person payments and other transactions within Facebook Messenger, the company said in a Jan. 9 press release.

ATM maker Diebold Nixdorf plans to unveil its smallest EMV-enabled payment terminal yet, a self-checkout unit that’s designed to fit into small retail spaces and supports cash, cards and contactless payments, but lacks a magnetic stripe reader, the company said in a Jan. 9 press release.

More than a year after leaving a top post at iPayment Inc., Philip Ragona is returning to serve the payments processor with new responsibilities.

Banks such as TCF Financial and Citigroup are adding Near Field Communication to their EMV cards to address consumers' displeasure.

The Internet of Things may be ripe for development, but the process of adding secure payments to Internet-connected products is an evolving concept.

When Diebold wrapped up its $1.8 billion Wincor Nixdorf acquisition last August, there was one asterisk on the deal: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)—which this week threw a flag on Mastercard’s proposed acquisition of VocaLink—wanted to explore whether the ATM network giants’ merger stifled local competition.

India’s latest efforts to shift to digital payments and reduce the nation’s tight grip on cash are in the spotlight, following the government’s recent cash recall and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving its blessing to about a dozen digital payments startups. The newest, BHIM, is controlled by India’s government and is off to a fast start after its first week.

Engage Financial Technology, a provider of prepaid card programs for banks, healthcare providers, retailers and other organizations, has partnered with software provider Ensenta for a cloud-based approach to loading funds to prepaid cards.

Ant Financial, parent of the Chinese online payment giant Alipay, may soon expand to South Korea with a new service called Korea Pay.