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Jumio Inc. has released an Android version of its Netswipe Mobile technology for accepting card payments with a phone's camera.

"We're open to partnering and playing with the existing networks, but not under the existing rule base," says Jamie Henry, senior payment director of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. "The existing rules that are in place for card-based payments are not going to be acceptable for mobile-based payments."

Fiserv, the third-largest provider of financial services technology on the FinTech 100 ranking, Monday announced it has acquired Open Solutions, a smaller provider of core banking software. The purchase price was $55 million, and Fiserv assumed approximately $960 million of debt.

VeriFone Systems announced Jan. 14 a suite of payment products, including an iPad mini version of its Payware Mobile card reader, a similar sleeve for the iPhone 5 and VeriFone HQ, a cloud-based system that allows retailers to monitor their terminals and manage their brands.

A German banking committee has approved an Ingenico SA payment terminal as the first to accept contactless payments in the country under a new contactless pay system called giorgo.

Some prominent mobile wallets today rely on NFC as the primary method of making payments. These include the mobile carriers’ Isis venture and Google’s mobile wallet. Others, such as PayPal, consider NFC optional. The mega-retailers’ Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) venture, which has yet to release a product, promises a software-based alternative to NFC, storing card data in the cloud and using bar codes to conduct transactions.

Retailers are looking to payments technologies to empower them to provide a more personalized shopping experience, one that improves consumer engagement at the point of sale and helps build customer loyalty, according to experts who spoke Sunday at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York.

There's no turning back — prepaid cards have left a permanent mark on banks, card networks, alternative payment providers and more. Some might consider that mark to be a scarlet letter, but many now wear it as a badge of honor.

Ingenico SA agreed to offer Shift4 Corp.'s gateway offering as part of the French terminal maker's point-to-point encryption portfolio.

Groupon's push into the payments business continues with an update that brings its mobile card reader to Android phone users.

American Express announced plans for 5,400 layoffs after the stock market closed Thursday, citing technological changes to existing business lines.

Cezar Butu of Romania, who pleaded guilty to taking part in hacking terminals at hundreds of U.S. Subway sandwich shops from 2009 to 2011, was sentenced this week to 21 months in prison.

It's been more than two months since Lower Manhattan was engulfed by flood waters from Superstorm Sandy and many merchants are still without the ability to accept credit and debit cards.

AJB Software Design Inc. plans to announce Friday its participation in the Visa POS Solutions Program (VPSP), which AJB says could allow it to link Visa's digital wallet, V.me, to the point of sale.

In North America, QR code-based mobile payment apps from Starbucks and LevelUp generate a code for each user, and the merchant scans the code to accept a payment. In Brazil, PicPay is flipping the model and making the consumer scan codes presented by the merchant.

Payments and social media have had a rocky relationship. Many companies that have tried to blend the two have failed or been forced to change their business model. Gumroad Inc., a startup founded by a 20-year-old veteran of Pinterest, says it gets it right.

ICBA Bancard is partnering with the payment processor Vantiv to provide payment services for the Independent Community Bankers of America's member banks.

Walt Disney Co. plans to use “MagicBands,” wristbands with built-in contactless payment technology, at its Disney World theme park in the next few months.

Consumer use of prepaid gift cards grew 10% in 2012, up to $110 billion in card loads, but an increase in fraudulent use of those cards and a growing need to protect consumers could follow, a new report warns.

It's going to be a big year for mobile payments. Now that several mobile wallets are in consumers' hands, the companies behind them are refining their products. What do Apple, Isis, Google, PayPal and others have in mind for the near future?