During his 18-year run at Visa driving innovation and strategic partnerships, one of Jim McCarthy’s frustrations was seeing how long it sometimes takes for financial institutions and issuers to embrace new technology.

Omnichannel models and self-ordering kiosks will be key to linking online ease with the in-store experience, and fundamental to making stores safer and more efficient during the pandemic and beyond, says TouchSuite's Sam Zietz.

Payment technology developer MyPINPAD has upgraded its point-of-sale app to allow merchants to accept and authorize contactless payments through a consumer mobile device — and to potentially provide a less expensive option for PIN transactions for smaller merchants.

Bank of America has launched a cross-border payment tracker through its Swift GPI module that allows clients real-time visibility into their international payments.

As a way to help small businesses maintain COVID-19 social distancing measures, Judopay is using a longer-range QR code that removes the need for any interaction at a point of sale device.

Travel has declined dramatically during the past year, but buy now, pay later firm Uplift contends there's a vigorous recovery on the horizon, adding Air Canada to its client roster.

Doing business online certainly isn’t new, but the pandemic prompted even businesses that hadn’t fully committed to the e-commerce space to shift some or all of their traditional operations online, says JotForm's Aytekin Tank.

Looking to ease contactless payments for cash wary consumers and businesses, PayPal has launched QR code payment acceptance in its iZettle point-of-sale application for small businesses in the U.K.

Open banking will drive an unprecedented move by banks, payments and technology firms to integrate and collaborate on banking-as-a-service, says Prime Trust's Scott Purcell.

Faster payments haven't always lived up to the hype and promise because of development and adoption stagnation in the U.S., but the idea of speedier transactions is becoming more popular.