Banks and technology companies betting on mobile payments have to overcome a very basic hurdle: most Americans still do not have smartphones.

Borrowing money from a friend for a taxi ride, splitting the restaurant bill among a group of diners or sending funds to a student at college could become an easier and faster task through a new mobile-payment option Visa Europe is launching this week.

Mitek Systems Inc. has launched a single platform for remote deposit check capture and has formed a partnership that will help banks using its product fight duplicate-check fraud, the San Diego-based company announced Sept. 27.

Isis announced on Sept. 27 that several companies will launch mobile devices that implement its NFC and technology standards.

Banks tend to look at competitors in mobile payments with a wary eye, but they would be better off working with one segment of this group–telecommunication network providers, suggests Ernst & Young’s new report “Mobile Money 2011 (see report).

Kenya is proving to be a hub of mobile-finance innovation in the developing world, even as mobile-payment systems in the U.S. struggle to build an audience.

Google Wallet and its rivals are coming soon to bank customers’ mobile phones, but it turns out the vast majority of them could not care less, new research suggests.

NEW YORK — MasterCard Inc. is preparing for the launch of Google Inc.’s mobile wallet within the next few weeks, but executives do not expect to see consumers regularly paying with their phones anytime soon.

In a move designed to streamline cross-border funds-transfers in the South Pacific, mobile funds-transfer service Vodafone MPAiSA Fiji on Sept. 9 announced new capabilities enabling consumers from Australia and New Zealand to send funds to anyone in Fiji with a Vodafone mobile phone.

Building on its growing momentum in contactless payments, Bank of Montreal is rolling out the Mobile PayPass Tag, a Near Field Communication-enabled sticker that consumers can attach to their mobile phones to make contactless payments in Canada, the bank announced Sept. 13.

ACI Worldwide has launched ACI Enterprise Banker 7.6, which will be fully enabled for mobile banking.

South Africa’s First National Bank Ltd on Sept. 7 unveiled what it says is the nation’s first service enabling its customers to send funds to one another using only a cell phone number.

Having a smartphone equipped for mobile payments with multiple payment options could weaken the impact of card brands, according to a new report from Morningstar Inc.

Banks that want to reel in retail customers who have gravitated to others' credit cards and card issuers eager to steal competitors' customers have a new weapon: technology from Mitek that lets customers transfer card balances by simply taking a picture of their credit card bill with their mobile device.

Zimbabwe’s Econet Wireless Ltd. is developing a mobile-payment system designed for small-ticket transactions in that country, the telecommunication company announced Sept. 6.

To help meet rising consumer demand in China, payment-services provider 99Bill Corp. has upgraded its 99Bill+ payment platform to additionally support payments initiated with tablets and smartphones.

VeriFone Systems Inc. continues to show positive quarterly results in terms of revenue and net income, and company executives expect the trend to continue as contactless mobile payments grow worldwide and EMV chip-and-PIN takes hold in the United States.

Sallie Mae announced on Tuesday that it had introduced mobile banking to certain Apple products, allowing customers to manage their savings, money market and no-fee student checking accounts remotely. The student lender has wasted no time rolling out mobile check deposit, and lets customers deposit checks not only by snapping a photo with their iPhone or iPad, but also by using their "dorm room scanner."

Joining a growing list of similar companies trying to move more cash payments to cards, Payment Data Systems Inc. will launch iRemotePay next month to meet growing merchant demand for a payment-acceptance option to use away from their actual stores or if they do business in outdoor markets.

Many institutions are considering mobile phone-enabled check capture, a popular way of depositing checks in which consumers use their smartphones to take photos of checks to deposit them remotely.