Smartphone-based payment systems promise to let shoppers eliminate the hassle of carrying cash and credit cards around. But even as mobile payments spread, there’s one piece of plastic people still can’t leave home without: their driver’s licenses.

The Federal Reserve System released a detailed vision for improving the speed of the U.S. payment system. It is latest step in a process meant to spur change at a time when the country has fallen far behind many nations that have adopted real-time payments.

If consumers, designers and artists led the discussion about how we make payments in the future, they would likely come out with a vastly different system than the one technologists are creating today.

WePay is looking to boost transaction activity among its small business users by offering access to Google Wallet with minimal steps.

Even in an alternative universe that exists only in cyberspace, real money is vital to the economy. Digital payments company Skrill hopes to bridge the real and virtual worlds to benefit its digital wallet.

Starbucks, which handles 16% of its in-store sales as mobile payments, is looking to push that number even higher. Its evolving strategy combines its mobile app, its gift card and its rewards program into a powerful package.

Monitise is pushing aggressively into new markets to build its profile, but mobile financial services' impact on traditional technology development is threatening the company's relevance.

Starbucks Corp. named former Juniper Networks Inc. Chief Executive Officer Kevin R. Johnson as its next chief operating officer, underscoring the role technology now plays at the coffee chain and mobile-payment innovator.

Data breaches have hit many retailers hard over the past year or so, and Stage Stores is doing everything it can to make sure customer payment data can't be exposed.

The processor Total System Services Inc. has entered into an agreement with terminal maker Ingenico to support a wide range of payment types, including magnetic stripe, EMV, Near Field Communication and Apple Pay.

Mergers and acquisitions among payments companies rose 44% in 2014 compared to the year before.

As he assumes the role of CEO of 'buy local' offers company Buzz Points, Dwayne Spradlin predicts that certain trends in technology and consumer habits will breathe life into a loyalty model that has stagnated in the past.

2014 ended roughly for some of the biggest payment companies, and 2015 will bring even more challenges from rapidly changing technology and nimble startups.

Across the world, startups are using digital delivery to challenge companies like Western Union and MoneyGram, a battle that in recent months has become increasingly heated.

One of the most challenging IT issues is proving ROI, establishing that a specific technology rollout had a measurable impact on business goals. But Tesco is making a powerful case for proving the ROI of 3-D technology its apparel e-commerce business used to achieve a 24% plunge in online returns.

Online money transfer service WorldRemit has signed a partnership with a telco that serves Africa, Asia and the Middle East to enable its customers to send money to mobile wallet users in those regions.

Ingenico Group, a French maker of payment terminals, has completed its acquisition of Roam.

Digital payments company ACI Worldwide has begun offering bill pay services on ATMs and kiosks sold by LD Systems.

Western Union has expanded its retail presence in Europe through a partnership with the international remittance service UAE Exchange.

Even though Apple Pay hasn't yet launched in the U.K., experts in the EMV-compliant nation are eager to bring over Apple's mobile wallet to improve card-not-present security.