MasterCard is betting that there is a third choice besides plastic cards and mobile wallets. And that choice is one that has sputtered in the past.

Google's rumored bill presentment service, called Pony Express, is still in development and has not been officially announced. But the email-based payment service has the potential to disrupt the banking world — if it can overcome the significant obstacles ahead of it.

MasterCard has joined forces with celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson to deploy its Qkr app at the product's first restaurant location in the United States.

No two digital wallets are alike, but there is a growing interest within the payments industry in standardizing a base layer for digital payments.

Modern consumer cars may not be as full-featured as the Batmobile or Knight Rider's KITT, but they are getting closer, and a growing number of financial companies want to put their products under the hood.

While Google may be the behemoth in web search, its payments initiatives leave a lot to be desired.

Taco Bell will start its first customer-loyalty program later this year in an effort to keep diners coming into the restaurants regularly.

Apple Pay may be just what the doctor ordered for health care payments, with its emphasis on both security and communication.

Just as the Apple Watch arrives to take over many of the functions of a fitness band, Jawbone has announced a new line of bracelets with payment features just like an Apple product.

Several issuers use card controls to soothe consumer fears, and Discover is building on this foundation to engage consumers at the network level and encourage more frequent and sophisticated use of mobile devices.

Uber recently changed its model in India to more appropriately serve the local population, welcoming auto rickshaws and cash payments. But these changes are unlikely to tackle the bigger issues the ride-sharing service faces in the country.

With ample fueling from mobile transactions, the potential for converting point of sale data into CRM and marketing data is massive. But as full of potential as this merger is across all retail purchases, it's particularly strong down market—and the smaller the business, the better.

The restaurant chain Olive Garden will begin using Ziosk tablets to accept payments at the table starting next month.

Two companies are working to make gift cards not only interactive, but almost self-aware.

Smart Communications Inc. has secured an issuing and acquiring license from Visa for its Smart e-Money electronic payment business in Southeast Asia.

The Canadian government is extending its code of conduct for payment cards to any mobile transactions, while also assuring retailers that any savings from reduced interchange will be passed along to them.

Digital payment providers are finally earning the same level of consumer trust that banks have long cherished.

There’s a fintech rivalry brewing between New York City and London. But in terms of transit payments, London is winning with an interoperable contactless system that runs more smoothly than New York's MetroCard.

Google has scrapped and rebuilt pieces of its mobile wallet many times, and it looks like those years of tinkering are paying off as more merchants adopt Google Wallet.

While the big players in mobile have arrived—Apple, Samsung and Google, the result has been a trade of one form of complexity for another.