U.S.

In a move designed to strengthen its capabilities for integrated payments, processor and technology provider Total System Services has agreed to acquire Cayan for $1.05 billion. The news shortly follows another deal valued in the billions — Thales agreeing to buy the chip maker Gemalto for $5.4 billion.

While at Klarna, Billingsley collaborated with Modo as part of a partnership between the two companies.

One of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges, bitFlyer, has landed in the U.S. with a focus on institutional investors — a move that suggests bitcoin's days as a payments instrument are still a long way off.

Messenger is one of Facebook's most requested services in the U.K. and France, making these markets ripe for the platform's new P-to-P payments capabilities. But in taking the service internationally, Facebook may also reveal its limitations.

A rising tide of Chinese dealmaking in the U.S. is spurring Congress to propose tighter measures to restrict investments that are increasingly viewed as a threat to America’s national security.

The U.S. and Canada are far behind Europe and Asia in contactless adoption in general. A handful of mass transit agencies are stirring hopes about NFC fare payments, but even these cities are taking a cautious approach to open-loop payments.

UL Transaction Security has teamed up with Zurich-based payment software engineering firm Abrantix to create a robot to automate the typically tedious, manual process of payment terminal testing.

Klarna’s instant online financing for purchases is gaining a foothold in the U.S., where the Swedish company is testing a subscription-based financing approach starting with golf clubs from TaylorMade Golf.

The preparations underscore the trouble Chinese buyers face in persuading the panel that investigates foreign acquisitions to greenlight takeovers.

Mobile wallet adoption in the U.S. is slow, and the payments industry has only itself to blame.