MasterCard is working on new mobile payments functions that give shoppers the choice between Near Field Communication chips and QR codes — two mobile payments methods that have competed in the market and are typically treated as mutually exclusive.

Italian mobile point of sale company Jusp has launched a mobile chip-and-PIN card reader as a plug-in device, veering from the more common approach of using a separate Bluetooth device.

Three banks in France have launched Paylib, a PayPal-like online payment system — and they're betting that France is just different enough that they can succeed on their home turf with a strategy that has had mixed results in the U.S.

PayPal’s reported plans to acquire Braintree would give it more than just a payment processor that moves $10 billion a year. If this marriage takes place, it would signal a shift in how payments companies think about technology.

As Isis forges ahead with its nationwide launch — despite losing the active participation of two of its four issuer partners — it's becoming clearer that mobile may not displace credit cards as easily as it can displace prepaid and cash.

If mobile wallets represent the future of payments, a lot of Americans would prefer to keep living in the past.

Facebook is rolling out its “Autofill with Facebook” function with PayPal, Braintree and Stripe, eliminating the need for consumers to type their billing information on smartphone screens.

The U.S. payments system must continue its push to overcome the challenges inherent in creating a near real-time retail payment option, says Sandra Pianalto, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

The European bank UniCredit has picked First Data to develop its mobile-payments offerings for Europe.

Simplee, which provides a cloud-based patient payments system, received a $10 million investment led by Heritage Group, which represents the top hospital systems in the U.S.

Payment terminal maker VeriFone has appointed Paul Galant, previously a Citigroup payments executive, to be its chief executive officer and a member of its board of directors, effective Oct 1.

MasterCard and e-invoicing provider Basware will offer an electronic payments system designed to speed payments and approvals for suppliers and extend payment terms for buyers.

Singapore-based F1Soft International will provide online and mobile money transfer software to Bangladesh Commerce Bank to help customers seeking ways to send money to family members in other countries.

For credit unions, mobile wallets are as much a threat as an opportunity. In an effort to fight back, One Nevada Credit Union is working with several experts on CU Wallet, a credit union-focused mobile payments system.

A substantial majority of payments in the U.S. and Canada are non-cash, placing the two countries close to being cashless, MasterCard reported Sept. 23.

Payment processing software company ACI Worldwide has entered an agreement to buy Official Payments Holdings, a seller of electronic bill payment technology.

PayPal is nearing a deal to buy Braintree Payment Solutions, which would give the eBay subsidiary access to transaction fees from more than $10 billion in payments Braintree processes annually, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

MasterCard is actively building payments capabilities for Google Glass, Google's wearable computing device.

A Nevada credit union and two technology vendors will introduce a new mobile payments system on Sept. 24.

Google made two drastic changes to its mobile wallet when it released an NFC-free version for Android phones and then, two days later, unveiled a version for the iPhone. What does the new Google Wallet look like on each device?