Economy

Slyce pictures a day when consumers will be able to buy anything depicted in a TV or printed advertisement — or even a product seen in person — by snapping a photo of it with their mobile device.

A new Facebook app from Citi suggests which concerts people may like based on their profile data.

The threat posed by Google's new Gmail money transmission feature will put the onus on banks to deliver the ultimate person-to-person payments experience, which only they can provide.

It's hard to build and maintain a false persona on social networks, and that's what makes sites like Facebook and Twitter such useful tools for controlling risk, says John Canfield, WePay's new vice president of risk management.

Mobile payments provider Fortumo Ltd. landed a major European carrier-billing deal last week, less than a month after revealing a significant partnership with Microsoft for mobile payment development on Windows phones.

DataCash, a MasterCard payments processing subsidiary, and Redecard will partner to sell electronic commerce products to merchants in Brazil.

LevelUp has made constant changes to its mobile-payments technology as it has aggressively spread its system to new consumers and merchants alike. Today, it is in the process of eliminating issues by replacing its older systems and is promoting a white-label app to appeal to more merchants.

Mercedes-Benz has a new account management app, My MBFS (Mercedes-Benz Financial Services), for motorists to use within their vehicles to review and pay auto loan and lease statements.

CardSpring and VeriFone Systems Inc. allow consumers' credit and debit cards to act as loyalty cards for redeeming digital coupons.

Visa issuers have put 3.5 million chip-based smart cards in the hands of U.S. consumers since the card brand announced its EMV-card migration roadmap in August of 2011, a Visa executive says.

Starbucks attributes the widespread use of its mobile payments app to a "seismic change" in how consumers use mobile phones and social media. The company expects a further surge in adoption as its rewards system expands to grocery stores.

Payleven's EMV-chip mobile card reader has found a spot on Apple Inc.'s retail shelves in Europe and on the company's website.

A young company called Bionym is testing a wristband that it says will authenticate online and mobile banking customers through a quick electrocardiogram.

Mike Passilla, JPMorgan Chase's new merchant services boss, didn't take a sledge hammer to the digital payment startups that are chewing away at incumbent payments companies, but his message was clear—Chase is one of the biggest guys on the block, and it plans to use its data and technology heft to win in the merchant acquiring game.

In an increasingly crowded mobile card reader market, American Express Co. and Groupon have given a double-digit million euro investment to SumUp.

Vesta Corp. wants to provide the wallet that mobile operators would use to offer core financial services to underbanked customers through their prepaid mobile phones.

Google is adding a Chrome Wallet App to allow payments within apps that run in Google's Chrome browser.

Because Bitcoin transactions are virtually instant, free and near-anonymous, charitable organizations are collecting and distributing donations in bitcoin.

Indiana's Centier Bank has triggered a new source of payments volume by giving consumers new debit cards in three minutes.

Bitcoin has had as much bad publicity as good in recent months. But even its setbacks have served to strengthen the community that supports the fledgling alternative currency.