Kate Fitzgerald

Most consumers aren't rushing to throw out their plastic cards in favor of mobile wallets, so the banks and tech companies behind payment apps have to get creative. Here are some of the most noteworthy promotions.

Malaysia-based CIMB has launched a digital wallet through an integration with Mastercard’s Digital Enablement Service that supports mobile payments on Android handsets.

Munich-based digital bank technology provider Fidor and Token Inc. have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop services enabling banks to control the way they share data with third parties.

Atom Tickets, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based mobile movie ticket app maker, will enable users to pay via Chase Pay early next year, as JPMorgan Chase & Co. spreads its digital payments solution beyond brick-and-mortar merchants.

Sydney-based Octet Finance, a provider of supply chain management and financing tools for small and midsize businesses, has formed an alliance with Mastercard enabling users to make cross-border payments using their existing Mastercard credit and debit card accounts via virtual card technology.

A mobile payments app that launched last year for parking lots in Toronto is now available for all parking spots on the city's streets, with PayPal as the newest payment option.

Montreal-based Pivotal Payments, which supplies all sizes of businesses with payment processing services, has named Edward Garcia to the new post of chief operating officer.

WEX Inc. will issue Chevron U.S.A.’s fleet cards, including all Chevron and Texaco cards for commercial fleets, beginning in early 2018, the companies have announced.

Canada’s Scotiabank waited to launch its own HCE-powered mobile wallet last month, and the payoff came when thousands of consumers downloaded the app with zero advertising.

American Express Co. hopes to add star power to its high-end Platinum credit card by bringing musician and style icon Pharrell Williams in as the brand’s first-ever creative director, as competition in the luxury credit card segment intensifies.

Longtime TSYS executive William A. Pruett will retire early next year, after which the company plans to consolidate its North America and International services operations into a single, new unit called the Issuer Solutions Segment.

Samsung Pay users had the advantage over Apple Pay and Android Pay when it launched last year with a technology enabling mobile payments through virtually any merchant terminal—contactless or not—but that advantage quickly diminished.

The recent history of mobile wallets includes a lot of crashes and failures, but the people behind those projects are still around and are wiser for their experiences.

Mobile payment initiatives have largely failed because they focus on changing transactions instead of changing the way consumers and merchants engage with each other, according to Carta Worldwide, which touts new tokens as a way to reverse that.

The collaboration will help consumers use WorldRemit funds to accounts in six new markets in Africa.

The deployment is aimed to make a national mobile payments migration more smooth and less costly.

Amazon.com has set the standard for e-commerce with fast delivery, invisible payments and many other perks that keep consumers coming back to its site. Increasingly, the e-tailer has been experimenting with ways to streamline the payment process outside of the trappings of its website.

There's been a rapid growth of cross-border payments and remittance startups, and CIBC responded with a major project designed to streamline transactions.

Maikki Frisk will become the Mobey Forum's executive director early next year, replacing Sirpa Nordlund, who is moving to a payments startup.

Already under fire from companies like Square, another outsider threatens to cut terminal makers out of the loop. It's up to device makers to adapt.