Given the financial health and outlook for many retailers, their ability to get the digital experience right could be the difference between operating in 2021, or joining the growing list of retail bankruptcies, says Applause's Kristin Simonini.

Customers will be able to use the service by clicking on the QR transactions option and using their camera to scan the code that appears on the app screen.

For most companies, no role within accounts payable focuses solely on handling errors, enablement, fielding phone calls, or escheatment, says Nvoicepay's Kristin Cardinali.

Drones and autonomous vehicles are making progress, but there's still expense and logistical hurdles to work out, says Roadie's Marc Gorlin.

The Federal Reserve’s Lael Brainard this week tossed fresh regulatory pressure on Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project, comments that come as central banks around the world work on digital currencies to counter the social network’s cryptocurrency project.

While Google can certainly be trusted to create an engaging mobile interface, trust in banking goes deeper than a good digital experience, says myGini's Mehmet Sezgin.

In order to ensure that the public benefits from a faster payments system, we strongly support the Federal Reserve playing a key leadership role, just as central banks have successfully done in other jurisdictions, says TransferWise's Harsh Sinha.

Gift cards will be the most-requested item this holiday season again, and for the first time, one in three U.S. consumers buying gift cards will opt for digital versions, opening new possibilities for merchants that are anxious to counter Amazon's influence and improve user experience for stored value.

Fintech dLocal is expanding its API-based payments service into Nigeria and South Africa, two nations with different levels of digital payments adoption.

MFS Africa has spent the last decade building an interoperable mobile payments system linking millions of consumers in Africa, and now it’s formed a partnership with Visa to extend global card acceptance to its users.

Worldline and CashSentinel will work on services that will fit requirements for traditional online marketplaces for physical products, franchise systems, self-checkout solutions and smart city apps.

VibePay is releasing its app on Google Play and the Apple App Store and calling for up to 100,000 new beta testers.

Private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners has finished what it calls a "significant growth investment" in payments technology and merchant services provider Fortis Payment Systems, LLC.

Traditional acquirers are under severe pressure from the digital payments revolution, challenged to hold onto clients by stitching together legacy systems, existing hardware, mobile, cloud and apps. Those that can harness innovation and find the right startup partners can not only stave off elimination, but drive the next generation of multi-channel shopping and transaction revenue.

Smaller enterprises don't have the resources of larger firms, but open source technology may be helpful, says Pimcore's Shashin Shah.

In the four years since Nets set up a laboratory at its Copenhagen headquarters to test new approaches to payments, it’s learned that consumer response to biometric payments technology such as finger-vein checkout is nearly impossible to predict.

While the road to API connectivity has not been smooth, solid progress is being made in connecting banks to third parties, says Token's Todd Clyde.

Swedish payment provider Klarna Bank AB is preparing for a potential initial public offering in the next one or two years as the most valuable European fintech startup expands rapidly in the U.S.

Payments application provider Ixaris is partnering with global travel marketplace provider Sabre to expand into new markets across Europe.

Curve has appointed Paul Harrald to lead a business line that will allow the all-in-one card company to offer support for credit card debt reduction and installment payments.