Disruptors

Dekkers Davidson, CEO of the Merchant Customer Exchange, wants to create the same type of disruption in mobile payments as Uber did in the taxi world.

In Bangladesh, the microfinance pioneer operates as profitable bank. But the U.S. arm, which lacks a banking license, is pursuing a different strategy.

Many companies have found it difficult to build consumer interest in using a dedicated app for payments, particularly for person-to-person payments. Some companies have determined that the best way to keep users engaged is to blend payment capabilities with social networking.

Square is adding global support for its Register merchant services app, a move that allows the company to measure demand in new markets before investing in the distribution of its hardware and other services.

Alternative lender FastPay, which specializes in lending to digital media startups, received $15 million from newly formed Oak HC/FT, a $500 million growth-equity fund that invests in health care and financial technology.

Square, which made a short-lived attempt at digital gift cards in late 2012, is debuting a new gift card service today with a heavy emphasis on an older payment instrument: plastic.

Apple Pay's launch about a month ago was accompanied by an almost unprecedented amount of hype and media attention, but it takes more than buzz to shift the world to mobile payments, and Apple's job is far from over.

Mobile tech providers are racing to incorporate EMV chip-and-PIN or chip-and-signature security into their offerings. But many of these companies are taking fundamentally different approaches to linking EMV and mobile technology.

Kim Kardashian may be an overexposed reality star, but she's also a tech entrepreneur with a short-lived past in the payments industry. And several companies in the Bitcoin space are repeating her biggest mistake by offering a plastic payment card.

Co-branding credit card partnerships has never been smooth sailing, but competition has clearly gotten tougher amid Apple Pay's launch.

Alibaba needs help to build a market in the West and is openly courting cooperation with Apple and PayPal, suggesting sweeping e-commerce alliances and even acquisitions may soon follow.

A Brooklyn, N.Y., startup wants to eliminate fees long hated by ATM customers and replace the lost income with revenue from ads that play on teller-machine screens. Yet questions have been raised about whether that is easier said than done.

The much-anticipated launch of Apple's mobile wallet was followed by a series of minor disasters for the fledgling payment system. Apple must overcome all of these obstacles if Apple Pay is to succeed.

As the mobile point of sale market matures, more merchants will migrate from smartphones to tablets, which Roam's Scott Holt said requires device-specific changes in design and technology.

As banks struggle to make sense of their wealth of customer information, the burgeoning industry of online marketplace lending is finding novel ways to glean insights from unconventional data points.

Eugene Danilkis, CEO of fintech startup Mambu, discusses banks' efforts to finance small and medium-size enterprises in developing countries, either indirectly (by funding microfinance organizations) or directly (by creating special lending subsidiaries unencumbered by legacy processes). He also explains how microfinance has moved beyond old stereotypes of lending to "basket weavers and fruit sellers"; why banks should heed Bill Gates' financial-inclusion message; and what the U.S. can learn from London about financial innovation.

The New York Department of Financial Services will likely institute an on-ramp for new Bitcoin businesses — and possibly any other kind of money transmitting startups — as a way for them to launch without being burdened by costly licensing requirements.

Apple Pay is still new to the scene, but it's already forced a number of other online and mobile wallets to change course. Some are rethinking their technology, while others are trying to find the best way to build on the buzz Apple created.

The Peterbrooke Chocolatier has a new recipe for mobile payments: it's blending Apple Pay with NCR's order-ahead and mobile point of sale technology to engage its customers in a new way.

Starbucks Corp., which now handles 16% of its U.S. sales through its mobile app, revealed today just how dominant its position has become even as it plots new features such as preordering.