While there's lots of fintech innovation globally, some of the most exciting moves are coming from China, Japan and South Korea, writes John Mitchell, CEO of Episode Six.

About a decade after its launch, Cambodia-based mobile money provider Wing has added a virtual prepaid Mastercard to its platform, enabling its audience of unbanked and underbanked consumers to shop online.

While Zelle is working hard to become the Venmo for grown-ups, it is also pushing into retail payments, particularly in opportunities for displacement of cash and check and where funds are needed in minutes rather than days or weeks.

The U.S. may be undergoing a sea change in attitudes to contactless cards.

Digital assistants are increasingly commonplace, and the trend is pressuring merchants and issuers to figure out how to keep up with consumers' interest in conversational computing.

Starbucks has for some time been the poster child of mobile payments acceptance in the U.S., but even this success may be tapering off.

Sometimes an idea is ahead of its time. Many of the most ambitious products in payments and fintech were dismissed as absurd or over-ambitious at the time — only to feel perfectly normal years later as culture and consumer habits evolved.

A crucial challenge for payment apps and cashless banking is how they adapt to provide services for the unbanked, writes Michael Kordvani, head of SEO for app development agency Fueled.

The mobile POS hardware and software provider is propelling its relationship with Apple to deliver technology for Major League Baseball that will allow entry into stadiums through digital tickets and Near Field Communication readers.

The rapid development of the Indian mobile wallet market demonstrates the importance of reactivity and adaptability. Huge opportunities await those who can successfully navigate the transformative impact of regulation, emerging technologies and shifting consumer expectations, writes Elina Mattila, executive director of the Mobey Forum.

Tender Armor, which offers a fraud-prevention tool that requires consumers to enter a special code for each online purchase, has attracted private equity funding to expand its development three years after the company’s inception.

Digital channels are likely to delight customers, but poorly performing websites are a major concern, especially as these sites come under heavier traffic loads, writes Mehdi Daoudi, CEO of Catchpoint.

Much like small businesses, small banks can't take on huge IT projects and rely more on targeted deployments to build a user base for future technology.

Alipay and WeChat have become so common in China that many tourists are finding it difficult to pay for goods and services without the apps, writes Mike Ward, CRO and CEO of North America for WorldFirst.

SoFi's experience shows that the most prominent names in fintech, while generating massive financial support, still operate in a very volatile world.

E-commerce merchants battling fraud that comes from multiple directions often need to use several different solutions that don’t always mesh well, bogging down the checkout process and inadvertently blocking good transactions.

The all-in-one card market is littered with the carcasses of unsuccessful ventures, but Curve's Shachar Bialick insists his initiative has a model and a headstart that will help it fight the market's considerable headwinds.

After a year of teething trouble at the Amazon Go cashierless concept store in Seattle, the e-tailer has finally opened its doors to the public. But no amount of Jetsons-esque technology can prepare the company for a stampede of consumers accustomed to Flintstones-era retail.

China's WeChat Pay mobile wallet has secured a partnership to launch the app in Italy next month, making it easier for Chinese consumers in that country to make online or in-store purchases with their smartphones.

From initial engagement through product purchase and post-sales interactions, retail technology offers a variety of ways to customize the shopping experience, writes Carl Mazzanti, founder and CEO of eMazzanti Technologies.