Investment

In his first day as Global Payments' chief executive, Jeff Sloan shared his thoughts about how a new security initiative from Visa, MasterCard and American Express could affect his company.

Daon, an identity services provider, is providing its biometric authentication system to online payments provider Optimal Payments to support high-risk businesses with stringent Know Your Customer requirements.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express introduced a proposed framework for new global standards that would replace traditional account numbers with a digital payment "token" for online and mobile transactions.

Because third-party processors are on the hook for losses from fraudulent transactions, they have as much interest in eliminating bad actors as anyone.

PCI services and merchant intelligence provider Sysnet Global Solutions is working with iScan Online, which specializes in security scanning of devices, to provide acquirers with new mobile security.

The PCI council continues to expand its reach, with the intent of remaining a strong guide for data security well into the future.

General Payments Systems has developed a software and hardware system that will allow its government agency clients to automate the collection of payments by check.

Alan Reiner, 30, thought he wouldn't find any career more interesting than missile defense simulations, but the self-described nerd left physics recently to work full-time on an ultra-secure Bitcoin wallet, Armory.

The various stakeholders in the U.S. payments system may need to put their differences aside to stay relevant as technology advances. But whether wide-scale collaboration is practical — or even possible — is open to debate.

Terrorists have put a bulls-eye on the U.S. financial system, including payments infrastructure, as a target that fits in with their plans to cripple the country's economy, says Juan C. Zarate, senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.