LAS VEGAS–Will mobile phones replace plastic payments cards?

In the latest phase of the transformation of its digital retail delivery strategy, Huntington Bank on Nov. 2 rolled out an iPad app that enables customers to view their accounts and account histories, pay bills, transfer funds, and locate ATMs and branches.

In maneuvers that could boost the future outlook of mobile banking and payments, Monitise PLC has received an investment from partner Visa Europe and has strengthened its U.S. operations by acquiring Monitise Americas shares owned by bank technology provider Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, the London-based mobile payments provider announced Oct. 31.

A glimpse of what some say represents the future of payments has arrived, but thus far only in certain geographic areas. With the Card Case smartphone application from Square Inc., consumers pay simply by saying their names at the point of sale.

LAS VEGAS–Mobile-wallet providers Google Inc. and Isis continue to position their products as more than just payments vehicles to replace plastic cards.

Bank technology provider Fiserv Inc. has positioned itself for a wave of growth in electronic payments.

Companies pushing mobile-payment technology in the United Kingdom have failed to capture the imagination of consumers, who generally indicate low interest in initiating transactions using their mobile phones, new study data suggest.

MasterCard Worldwide has signed a letter of intent with Russian cell-phone carrier Mobile TeleSystems to bring PayPass contactless-payment functionality to Russian mobile phones, the card brand announced Oct. 28.

Use of mobile financial services rose sharply during the second quarter compared with the end of last year, according to comScore’s latest mobile banking adoption research.

Apriva LLC plans to launch a mobile wallet next month that could help independent sales organizations and agents stake their claim on part of the mobile-payments market.

Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority has put together an industry group to develop a system under which consumers may pay for taxi fares and small purchases with their mobile phones.

CHICAGO–Google Inc., Isis and PayPal Inc. each are attempting to position their mobile wallets as the one consumers will prefer to use on their smartphones.

Two new Blackberry devices are the first Subscriber Identity Module-based Near Field Communication smartphones to receive MasterCard Worldwide PayPass certification, Research In Motion Ltd. announced Oct. 26.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia on Oct. 26 unveiled a mobile-payment platform to enable iPhone-owning customers to do online banking, instantly send funds to Facebook friends or to anyone’s email address or telephone number, and, with the use of a special cover, make contactless payments.

Taking mobile payments to new heights, MasterCard Worldwide soon will conduct a test of contactless-based payments at 30,000 feet, enabling passengers to purchase refreshments using its contactless PayPass technology aboard planes from WestJet, a Calgary, Alberta-based airline.

CHICAGO–The mobile-commerce market is littered with various wallet models, acceptance devices and applications, and this is forcing merchant-service providers to seek out ways to bring the elements together to help retailers maximize the channel’s potential, notes one mobile-payments executive.

The Beijing branch of China Telecom Corp. Ltd. has begun enabling customers to make payments using their China UnionPay cards over its mobile network as part of a pilot that launched Oct. 20.

Roughly half of adults in major global markets are interested in mobile payments because of the ease and simplicity they offer, but significant doubts persist about mobile-payment security, according to a study of consumers in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Germany and Malaysia released in early October.

Accepting card payments with a mobile phone is becoming as American as baseball and apple pie now that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is selling the Square Inc. reader that turns any smartphone into a card-acceptance device.

Security Service Federal Credit Union has signed with VSoft Corp. to implement the company’s back counter capture and ATM remote deposit capture services to decrease response times and improve employee and member experiences.