Starbucks Corp. Chief Operating Officer Troy Alstead will go on an extended unpaid hiatus, leaving the world’s largest coffee-shop chain without a No. 2 to Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz.

The earliest implementations of the 3D Secure e-commerce system amounted to a password for consumers' payment cards and a link between consumer and card issuer — an idea that is growing stale in a world where consumers are able to authenticate payments with more sophisticated tech.

PayPal's mobile payments application can now be accessed by BlackBerry users in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, with plans for more markets later on.

Skrill, an e-commerce provider based in New York, plans to offer its digital wallet as a payment option in Second Life, the once-popular virtual world game that was released in 2003.

Wirecard, a digital payments company based in Germany, has partnered with Five by Five, a software provider in Croatia, to provide mobile point of sale technology to small businesses.

A Helsinki, Finland-based startup is hoping to knock down one of the barriers to credit-card acceptance in developing countries: a lack of reliable Internet access.

Biometric security has become a hot topic in the payments industry with many experts lauding its convenience and effectiveness. But there's no consensus on whether to store biometric data locally or in the cloud.

Apple's reputation as a negotiator is rather simple—it doesn't negotiate. But Strategic Resource Management, a negotiation company with 200 clients in financial services, contends issuers and merchants have a chance to win more favorable terms with Apple.

High-tech cards have struggled to gain traction as a distinct, offline — and often expensive — consumer gadget for storing and protecting multiple payment accounts. But the pervasiveness of Internet access points and Internet-connected devices could give some of these gadgets fresh appeal.

EBay Inc. named Bonnie Hammer, chairman of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, to its board as the 10th independent director, bringing in an executive with a background in consumer and social-media content.

The crowdfunding site Kickstarter has adopted payment service Stripe for all of its transactions, replacing Amazon Payments.

As a consortium of banks and mobile networks in New Zealand puts the finishing touches on its mobile wallet system, the group chose a technology "hub" model to ensure that it can adapt to the fast-changing movements in the payments industry.

Video tellers are being touted as a way for banks to increase efficiencies and cut costs while also giving customers the human interaction they desire, but some argue that speed is more important than seeing a friendly face.

Though Amazon.com's Fire Phone sputtered out as soon as it launched, the company has built a solid foundation in mobile payments that will fuel its next big moves in 2015.

General Motors has unveiled a feature, called AtYourService, to complement its OnStar in-car assistance service by providing retail-oriented features to drivers.

Sellers using e-commerce marketplace Atomic Mail can now add Dwolla as a payment option on the checkout pages of their websites.

The tech consultancy firm FIME, based in Antony, France, has been qualified as a near field communication certification tester in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Apple Pay has already achieved the cool factor with its innovative payment system and convenience factor.

Person-to-person payment services haven't always fared well, but a year-old French startup, Flooz, thinks a P2P app can succeed in its home country if it has the right interface — and steep social barrier to entry.

Mobile operators in Taiwan now support the nation's largest mobile commerce platform, which enables Near Field Communication mobile payments.