There is a lot of competition in mobile payments, and sometimes it takes an odd idea for a product to stand out. These banks, card networks and other companies dared to bring something new to the market, but only a few can claim the risk paid off.

Starbucks, an investor in Square, will not use Square's order-ahead app as the coffee chain pushes ahead with its own mobile ordering technology.

Payza now supports automated clearing house deposits and withdrawals for users with U.S. bank accounts.

LevelUp, a mobile payments provider known for its playful office culture — and a CEO who prefers to be called a chief ninja — may need to mature as its competition gets serious.

Five of eBay Inc.'s top executives will leave the company when it spins off the payment-processing division PayPal next year, and retaining them until the deal closes will cost more than $35 million, according to a regulatory filing today.

The Royal Bank of Canada, an early adopter of wearable technology, is adding host card emulation (HCE) technology to the RBC Mobile App, enabling Android smartphone users to make contactless mobile payments through any carrier.

Apple is planning to take its new mobile payment system into the U.K. and other parts of Europe in the coming year, though its current fee structure for banks may not be as easy to export.

Bancroft & Associates has added Spindle's credit and debit card payment acceptance to its online property management payment platform.

White-label mobile payments and commerce provider Mozido LLC has acquired mobile wallet provider CorFire, which developed mobile wallets for retailers like Dunkin' Donuts, to fuel its global expansion.

For American Express' Nik Sathe, developers with no experience in the payments industry are among the best to hire.

A South African company called FlickPay wants to win over the country's retailers with a flexible fee structure for offering deals and loyalty programs through its smartphone app, but it operates in an increasingly crowded mobile payment market.

Intuit's Mint personal financial management site has rebranded the Check app, which the company purchased this year, to tie its payment capabilities to the Mint brand.

Rather than try to change consumers' behavior, Barclaycard is acting on research it conducted of 2,000 consumers who told the U.K. issuer what type of wearable payment device they'd prefer. Their preference: gloves.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against Sprint Corp., alleging it illegally processed improper third-party billing charges – marking the first time the agency has pursued a telecommunications firm.

Optimal Payments has released a series of onboarding and developer options in an attempt to stay nimble amid the growing market of companies that use application programming interfaces (APIs) to offer transaction capabilities to retailers.

Nearly a decade ago, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council told banks that passwords are not enough to guard financial data, and many companies scrambled to evaluate new and sometimes bizarre alternatives.

Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. now offers Chicago transportation systems and its patrons a single mobile app for ticketing and contactless fare payments.

Adyen joins the ranks of financial technology companies to receive big money this week, announcing a $250 million funding round today.

NCR's Silver point of sale system has integrated SCVNGR's LevelUp mobile wallet and customer loyalty app.

The mobile point of sale provider ShopKeep is releasing hardware that is compatible with Apple Pay's Near Field Communication payment system and EMV-chip cards.