Technology

WEX Inc.'s virtual card business has continued to grow as the company makes more payments to hotels for its online travel company clients.

Poynt Co., a startup headed by former Google and PayPal executive Osama Bedier, is looking to take advantage of the EMV hardware upgrade schedule to entice merchants to switch to its new app-based payment terminal.

This year has been so bad for merchant data breaches that President Obama felt the need to advance the timeframes to be EMV-compliant at government points of sale.

Large payment companies, including PayPal, are increasingly using incubators and accelerators to learn about consumers and to nurture startups that might become partners.

Total System Services is close to beginning tests of new products and merchant services, and is already seeing a benefit from last week's launch of Apple Pay. But in prepaid, a significant business for the processor, TSYS is still awaiting new rules from the government.

It's surprising how much advice varies about how to respond to customer complaints on social media. Ignore small threats, some say, while others warn banks to respond immediately because they could go viral. Still others think banks should overhaul their whole customer experience to disarm critics.

McDonald's is putting more promotional muscle behind Softcard, the telco-backed mobile wallet, at a time when Apple Pay is raising overall awareness of mobile payment technology.

The "marriage" that Apple's CEO and Alibaba's founder are hinting at could create a mobile wallet with a global reach that well exceeds that of most banks, telcos and other mobile-wallet developers active in either company's home market.

Payment applications developer Ixaris is working with United Bank for Africa and Ojapay to launch a virtual card-based e-commerce system designed to make online purchasing an option for more African consumers.

The number of consumers using contactless Near Field Communication payments may quadruple in the next five years.