Merchant

Spanish gasoline retailer Repsol this week augmented its Near Field Communication-based mobile payments services by launching an app enabling motorists to pay for fuel without leaving the car.

What's most intriguing to payments industry insiders is what Walmart left on the table when designing Walmart Pay, and what those decisions could mean for retailers and bank card issuers.

Mobile wallets remain in a nascent stage until service providers can deliver value beyond just payments.

E-commerce seems to have a better memory than brick and mortar stores, quickly scrutinizing shoppers' purchasing and browsing habits to provide recommendations and offers to keep them coming back.

Square Inc. spent six weeks in Portland, Ore. — a city with a strong existing base of micro-merchants — to transform it into one of the company's top U.S. markets in total Apple Pay transactions conducted with its card readers.

Walmart Pay is the culmination of years of efforts that Walmart has put into building its brand as a trusted provider of payments. In addition to its new mobile wallet, Walmart has been involved in numerous innovative projects to help its customers move money.

At least 30 countries have either implemented a real-time or near-real-time payments system or are in the midst of implementing or planning one.

Seven months after revealing its branded mobile payment app, Walmart is making Walmart Pay available in more than 4,600 of its stores throughout the U.S., with early figures indicating consumers approve of its "connected" app model.

Payments processor Vantiv Inc. and buyout firm Warburg Pincus are among suitors seeking to buy a U.S. payments business owned by Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, according to people familiar with the matter.

Recent headlines are revealing just how challenging it is to send cross-border payments into emerging markets. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of sending low-value mass payouts for business.