Revel Systems has integrated its iPad-based point of sale system with the Adyen Shuttle mobile card reader to provide more European merchants with an option for reading EMV-chip cards.

Mobile payments company Clinkle has hired Barry McCarthy to be its chief operating officer.

Irish financial services group Fexco and BNP Paribas are acquiring Flashiz, a two-year old Luxembourg-based mobile payment company.

The alternative payment provider Dwolla has launched a credit-based instant payments capability, built on partnerships with banks and credit unions.

The coveted "Millennial" generation of consumers ages 18 to 34 is central to the success of any new payments technology – but this group also has a wide range of financial goals that make it hard to target with a one-size-fits-all product.

Just as Square invented a plug-in device to bypass the gatekeepers of the payments industry, banks may be able to turn the tables with a plug-in device designed to bypass the gatekeepers of the mobile industry.

Visa and MasterCard have aggressively worked to establish their V.me and MasterPass wallets since launching both products within the past year, and both companies are trying to learn from their past efforts in e-payments.

OnBudget seeks to build customer retention of daily expense prepaid cards by incorporating personal financial management tools that digitize the "envelope budgeting system" popular among consumers.

Although its third quarter net income dropped 7% year-over-year, Discover Financial Services remains confident in the opportunities it has invested in for the future.

Consumers are increasingly jumping form one channel to another when shopping and paying, pressuring issuers and other payment companies to simultaneously accommodate older plastic-card models alongside the Web and mobile commerce.

There is a surge of activity in person-to-person payments, with the biggest banks going head-to-head with technology giant Google and other significant rivals.

American Express Co. is working with VeriFone Systems to allow consumers to redeem membership rewards to pay for rides in New York City taxis.

Square's new P2P service, Square Cash, is meant to be so straightforward that you don't need an app to use it — but Square published an app anyway. The Square Cash app joins a growing suite of Square apps for merchants and consumers.

Flint has released an Android version of its swipeless mobile card acceptance product, which relies on the smartphone's embedded camera to scan an image of a card to accept payments.

Wonga, a London-based provider of short-term loans, has purchased BillPay, a Berlin-based online payment and financing platform.

Udi's, which operates a group of cafes and pizza establishments in the Denver area, just launched a customized mobile payments program with the goal of obtaining the data that is normally invisible to it when patrons pay with credit and debit cards.

GlassPay, a new Google Glass app from RedBottle Design LLC, allows consumers to make purchases with bitcoins, a prominent digital currency.

Visa and global e-commerce company Borderfree are offering free shipping from Borderfree's clients to Visa cardholders in Southeast Asia.

Homeland Stores, a grocery store chain based in Oklahoma City, wanted to digitize its plastic loyalty card without having a vendor's brand get in the way.

While digital initiatives take longer to show their effect in the company's revenue, American Express Co. is still making investments in emerging payments and prepaid cards.