It’s not a question of "if" mobile contactless and camera-based payments will become the norm – it’s a matter of "when," writes Julian Wallis, East Kilbride, U.K.-based sales director in the payments group at Rambus.

The digital era is changing a lot of habits, including dining. Mobile devices and other technologies now play a vital role in bringing patrons into coffee shops, fast food restaurants and sit-down establishments.

Giving away its speaker to Pixel devotees isn't just about getting these devices into homes; it's about getting them to the users most likely to favor Google over Amazon, writes Daniel Wolfe, Editor in Chief at PaymentsSource.

With AT&T dropping out of the program and Macy's focusing more on its own loyalty scheme, American Express is absorbing the first serious blows from key members in its multi-merchant Plenti Rewards Program.

Singapore and Thailand are in discussions about connecting their national digital payment systems to forge an unprecedented regional alliance, as officials step up efforts to curb the use of cash.

Many bank-driven responses to fintech startups are "force fitting" traditional services, and don't fully meet new consumers' demands for social interaction, writes Ted Bissell, global director for digital consulting at Axis Corporate.

Like all major and some tier-two U.S. payment processors, TSYS wants to participate in less competitive and higher growth markets overseas to sustain long-term growth, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

Adyen says it has developed a platform that will simplify and speed up payments, seller onboarding and other tasks for the e-commerce global marketplaces using its payment processing services.

In service now for a decade in Africa, India and parts of Europe, M-Pesa is expanding its telco-driven mobile money service to include tap-and-go payments through wristbands, stickers or cards.

The e-signature and invoicing regulations, which sought to simplify e-invoicing to enhance adoption rates, have caused uncertainty, writes David Cocks, CEO and founder of CloudTrade.

Users of Facebook's social image sharing network Instagram are getting more access to one-click purchases directly from the app through new integrations this week with Shopify and Bigcommerce.

What makes Shake Shack's cashless store so potentially powerful — even if it's only one location in Manhattan — is what the burger chain can do when every customer is known to it.

No matter how good a company's e-commerce strategy is, the customer experience can still fall apart on the checkout page — especially when introducing new features.

Competition between card networks, tech titans Facebook and Google, Chinese fintech proxies Paytm and Hike, and M-Pesa will be fierce, and offer signs how other large emerging payments markets may evolve, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

The desperation in Puerto Rico for life's essentials — food, gas, water and electricity — in the wake of Hurricane Maria illustrates the need for payments providers to move as quickly as possible to get the U.S. territory in a position to reinstate some semblance of modern commerce.

The explosion of interest in digital assets this year, and the multiplying of their market value, are making cryptocurrency debit cards newly attractive. Banks could partner with intermediaries or issue the cards directly, but obstacles remain before that day can arrive.

Equifax mismanaged its recovery by asking for personal information to determine if a user was affected and then issuing a predictable PIN code to those who requested a credit lock, moves that diluted confidence in the company, writes Timothy Crosby, senior security consultant for Spohn Security Solutions.

The company, founded by musician Jack Conte about five years ago, allows fans to give creators a steady paycheck to create new content, and it's a clear hit among certain communities. But by severing the clear link between product and payment, it has also created some unprecedented issues.

Equifax's data breach may be the most serious, given that it covered 143 million consumers and involved reams of confidential information, but it wasn't the largest. Following are the biggest to date.

MobilePay, Danske’s digital-pay subsidiary, wants Nordic banks to offer a single payment platform to counter challengers like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.