NEW YORK–With so much attention on turning mobile phones into payment devices through hardware upgrades, banks may be missing a growing opportunity in the mobile Web browser.

American Express Co. has begun licensing its digital wallet, Serve, in China.

A new mobile-commerce wallet from payment-processor Apriva LLC could go a long way toward helping merchants decide whether investing in new mobile-payment hardware is worth the cost.

Green Dot Corp. has been busy lately, closing out its long-awaited and controversial $15.7 million purchase of Bonneville Bancorp and plotting a customer acquisition initiative.

There might not be a better time to enter the mobile-payments arena than now.

VeriFone Systems Inc. has its GlobalBay iPad retail mobile-payment software literally rolling on the sales floors at U.S. Guess Inc. clothing and accessories stores, further establishing that the company intends to position itself as a key player in mobile payments and customer marketing.

Security experts have long considered restaurants a happy hunting ground for credit card skimmers and payment-system hackers. So much so, diners have become understandably reluctant to let a waiter take their credit card away from the table when settling their bill.

E*Trade Financial Corp.’s securities unit has introduced mobile deposit for the Apple Inc. iPhone, the company anounced Dec. 5.

Independent safety-science firm UL LLC signaled its desire to enter growing payment areas such as mobile transactions with its purchase this week of Australia-based payment card security-assessment company Witham Laboratories Ltd.

If mobile-payment technology providers stub their toes with security, or if merchants deem a vendor’s mobile payments too complex, another company likely is working to resolve the problem.

The explosion of mobile applications, especially those involving banking and payments, is almost certain to lead to ingenious new hacker attacks on consumer data next year. After all, why should 2012 be different from any other year, as crooks continually look for holes in security in hopes of reaping financial rewards?

The chatter coming from the industry near the end of last year was that 2011 would be when mobile card acceptance and payments finally emerge as legitimate experiences for consumers and merchants in the United States.

The Reserve Bank of India has removed the daily limit on mobile transactions to help boost India’s mobile payments market.

A Canadian independent sales organization is offering its merchants a proprietary mobile-payment acceptance device that other Canadian ISOs also could sell.

Verizon Wireless’s decision to prevent Google from providing its Wallet mobile payment app on the new Galaxy Nexus smart phone, has not gone unnoticed in Washington.

In the evolution of Near Field Communication-based mobile payment technology, 2011 was a big leap forward for NFC handset distribution. But experts are stopping short of calling it an unqualified watershed year in NFC development.

Banks have been much maligned for nickel-and-diming their customers, but in another area–cardholder fraud protections–they are being praised as consumer champions.

Persuading consumers and merchants to shun the traditional way to pay and accept payment for goods and services using plastic remains Dwolla Corp.’s chief goal. But the company also is working to plug some holes in its service.

Mobile wallets have turned into vital payment tools for consumers in many African nations thanks to M-Pesa. Hoping to take advantage of this trend, Western Union Co. is expanding its mobile funds-transfer service to Tanzania to accommodate users who also subscribe to Vodacom’s M-Pesa mobile wallet.

Mobile wallets have turned into vital payment tools for consumers in many African nations thanks to M-Pesa. Hoping to take advantage of this trend, Western Union Co. is expanding its mobile funds-transfer service to Tanzania to accommodate users who also subscribe to Vodacom’s M-Pesa mobile wallet.