Disruptors

Santander Group, the Spanish banking giant, has invested several million dollars in Ripple, one of the most prominent startups in the hotly discussed field of distributed-ledger technology.

Apple Pay has been out for a year, so many of its partners have had time to reflect on the various issues it has faced since launch. Bank and credit union executives shared their experiences at SourceMedia's 2015 PayThink event at the end of September.

As Uber-like business models perpetuate, bringing more contractors into a world where their job functions are handled primarily through a mobile app, there are still some pain points for which plastic is well suited.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including how postal banking could help low-income people in the U.S. and the continuing debate over interchange fees.

Competition is heating up among mobile wallet makers, but not everyone is racing toward the same goal. Many are starting to look past Near Field Communication-based contactless payments, championing newer technologies as well as reviving older business models.

Once placed inside of payment cards, computer chips can catalyze uses well beyond merchant security, argues MasterCard's Carlos Cornejo, who adds the card network plans to expand card utility through the mix of chips and tablets.

CommonBond has expanded its student loan refinancing program to more than 2,000 universities at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Retailers beware: Starbucks is changing consumers' expectations in mobile payments yet again.

Among other reasons for seeking their own charters, the U.K.'s so-called challenger banks say they need to avoid being beholden to older institutions that can slow down the creative process.

Visa has created a prototype of a car designed to initiate payments, the first step in a five-year plan of changing the way motorists pay for gas and other needs while in transit.