The explosion of startups developing payment tools hasn't ceased, and simple consumer mobile wallets are starting to make way for products suitable for large corporations.

Host Card Emulation, which enables Near Field Communication payments without accessing a smartphone's secure element, has major supporters like Google, Visa and MasterCard. But some are expressing concern over the technology's approach to security.

Citigroup customers who use its ThankYou Rewards program now have the option to use the points they earn to pay bills through the bank's online bill pay system.

NCR Corp. has integrated its NCR Silver iPad point of sale system with Retail Intel, a cloud-based service provider that can pull in sales data from QuickBooks.

Mobile billing provider Boku Inc. is expanding its reach into 14 new countries in Europe through a new agreement with Deutsche Telekom.

MasterCard plans to launch au Wallet, a prepaid card program that will be available to subscribers of Japanese mobile operator KDDI's au-brand mobile network.

Digital payments company Payfort, which is based in Dubai, is using local merchant networks and consumers' own homes to enable more travel payments.

Zipmark Inc. is taking its application programming interface for accepting digital checks and adapting it as a mass payment option to its business clients.

The payments technology company Stripe and other vendors say they get the best feedback from prospective clients by simply opening up their technology.

India's merchants are beginning to embrace mobile card readers, fueled by the nation's growing dependence on payment cards and smartphones.

Total Systems Services (TSYS) is partnering with ShopKeep POS to extend the processor's range of mobile and tablet-based point of sale offerings.

Chase Paymentech has launched Mobile Dashboard, an interactive reporting display for merchants.

After a month of testing in Chicago's West Loop, the city is ready to roll out a mobile payment system for all of its parking meters.

Vending machine technology companies Byndl and USA Technologies are partnering to provide cross-channel marketing and customer service through mobile devices.

Google is testing a way to use its Wallet on Google Glass through verbal commands, according to a report by TechCrunch.

CaixaBank now allows customers to monitor their bank account, make donations to charities and obtain payment cards through a Facebook application.

Mopay has entered into a carrier billing relationship with Baidu Mobile Game.

Amazon.com Inc. now lets customers shop through Twitter.

While mobile wallet providers try to simplify the payment process by taking physical plastic cards out of the equation, others are looking further into the future to an era where all things are connected.

North American Bancard (NAB) is adding technology from Moki in an attempt to secure and manage its in-store mobile point of sale system.