Technology

PayStand has established flat rates for online payments through electronic checks, saying its new format will allow non-profit organizations and service businesses to avoid credit card fees.

PayPal's support of the Pebble smartwatch, an older and less expensive alternative to the Apple Watch and Android Wear watches, signals the acceleration of mobile payments in devices other than smartphones.

Discover Financial Services will take a $178 million charge in the fourth quarter to make changes to its cashback rewards program.

Biometric authentication may seem all the rage now that Apple uses fingerprint authentication in its mobile wallet, but the Bitcoin ATM provider RoboCoin has concluded that biometric technology can be more of a hassle than a help.

In my dreams, I can walk up to any cashier and make a payment by waving my hand over a terminal, much like Obi Wan Kenobi's "These aren't the droids you're looking for" trick in Star Wars. And that's all I would have to do.

It's not just merchants, issuers and technology companies that are using mobile technology to sell new payment services. As a business software provider, Intuit has been uniquely positioned to link its products to a number of payment initiatives.

VendorSafe Technologies has named Kevin Watson as its new chief executive. The provider of cloud-managed security for payments and wireless systems for small businesses also announced Providence Equity Partners out of Rhode Island has become its majority shareholder.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), commonly referred to as Metro, will launch a contactless payment pilot to open doors for open-loop mobile wallets to be used for transit fare.

The online banking malware Dridex leans on an old technique, phishing, and an even older ruse, malicious macros, to steal online banking credentials from unsuspecting employees and customers.

Snapchat, in unveiling a person-to-person payment function this week through a partnership with Square Inc., joins a growing number of companies treating social media accounts as payment instruments.