Not all transactions have the same need for speed, so the Federal Reserve Banks' financial services unit will start with a narrow focus as it evaluates the development of a faster payments infrastructure in the U.S.

Ingenico Group is leveraging its experience in EMV-chip terminal upgrades and new momentum from Apple Pay to better position itself for the U.S. conversion to smart-card technology.

Spire Payments will supply Indian Overseas Bank with more than 7,500 mobile point of sale devices in its mPOS deployment in the Chennai region of India.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s deal to distribute Green Dot Corp.'s mobile checking account, GoBank, signals a fundamental change in how both companies approach their audience.

Visa Inc. is planning to hire 2,000 employees to strengthen its technology strategy.

Fifty-two percent of millennial respondents in a Zogby Analytics survey sponsored by Mitek Systems, a mobile imaging tech provider, perceive native apps as a safer solution than mobile websites for purchasing and banking.

Revel Systems' deal with the New Orleans-based Smoothie King franchise will be the largest deployment to date of its iPad point of sale software.

Klarna will target a range of merchants in the U.S., but will focus on e-commerce merchants that ship tangible goods. Its buy-now-pay-later model would, in most cases, result in the consumer paying for the item after receiving it in the mail.

PayPal's making moves to respond to the maturation of virtual currencies, entering into agreements with Bitcoin payment processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoGoin.

MyECheck has established the required relationships to proceed with the launch of its mobile payment apps early next year, a delay from its originally planned mid-2014 launch date.

The payments industry has changed dramatically over the past year, and so has the mindset of those in the industry. The focus is shifting from mobile payments and Bitcoin to fraud mitigation and security.

Business-to-business payments provider Traxpay Inc. will expand its reach by routing B2B transactions across MasterCard Inc. rails.

Merchants using Revel Systems' iPad point-of-sale software will now have the option to incorporate Web ordering into the system, and will also be able to accept Apple Pay when Apple's mobile wallet launches next month.

CO-OP Financial Services is developing a mobile app that will give consumers the ability to activate and deactivate card capabilities on the fly.

SpendSmart Networks has purchased the e-commerce solutions division of TechXpress and plans to integrate the company's online and mobile services with its existing loyalty program offerings.

The Swedish mobile payments company Seamless has agreed to acquire Ingram Mobile Mobility's prepaid mobile operations in Sweden and Denmark.

Macy's is using a mix of technology to pitch offers to consumers as they move within its store and shop across channels.

Apple Pay isn't yet on phones, but many companies in the financial services industry have already changed their strategies to respond to it. Some are on board with Apple's new mobile wallet, but others are firmly against it.

The intimate involvement of the nation's largest credit card issuers in Apple Pay is sparking concern that smaller banks will be left behind in the mobile payments revolution.

The Swedish e-commerce payment company Klarna is coming to the U.S. next year.