Technology

To identify the fintech startups deserving of special recognition this year, a team of American Banker editors, BAI staff and consultant Jeanne Capachin debated the merits of self-nominees and companies we know. These are the ten that matter for 2015.

Square Inc. may have more incentive than other acquirers in urging merchant clients to accept EMV-chip cards, but its pricing strategy could deter some from adopting the secure technology.

Space Coast Credit Union will work with ACI Worldwide, an electronic payment and banking service provider headquartered in Naples, Fla., for its online and mobile banking as well as electronic payments.

Alibaba needs help to build a market in the West and is openly courting cooperation with Apple and PayPal, suggesting sweeping e-commerce alliances and even acquisitions may soon follow.

Third-party vendors will receive a lot more security scrutiny under new Payment Card Industry security requirements taking hold next year, if merchants are vigilant in following the new compliance guidelines.

There is lots of talk about mobile payments and where banks play, but the real opportunity has less to do with payments and more to do with “mobile commerce services," or all of those things banks (and merchants) can do via mobile to attract, engage, motivate and reinforce customer relationships to protect existing revenue streams and create new ones.

A Brooklyn, N.Y., startup wants to eliminate fees long hated by ATM customers and replace the lost income with revenue from ads that play on teller-machine screens. Yet questions have been raised about whether that is easier said than done.

MasterCard has emphasized prepaid cards to replace cash as a first step to extend financial services to the underbanked, and is adding mobile technology to add more services to its financial inclusion initiative.

American Express Global Payments is adding cloud-based software from Intacct, a move that can make it easier to automate corporate payments, which still include paper-based processes.

Mocapay and Merchant Link are partnering to offer a bundle of mobile payments services that includes data-driven security and loyalty programs, both areas that have held back merchant uptake in the past.