Mobile payments

Experts from across the payments industry gathered in Los Angeles for SourceMedia's annual Card Forum and Expo. Here are some of the biggest ideas discussed at this year's event.

The technology behind the snazzy new “bots” Facebook is rolling out for its Messenger chat app has enormous potential to internalize payments within social media experiences like shopping, travel and entertainment in new, more relevant ways.

Biometric authentication is coming to numerous e-commerce merchants who may not realize that it will be a part of their checkout process, depending on the issuers involved.

Financial services and payments technology provider Affirm says it has raised $100 million in a round of equity funding.

Card firm MBNA has joined the first wave of issuers to offer Samsung Pay when it launches in the United Kingdom.

Ingenico Group has acquired a startup company that will help the French terminal manufacturer advance "screen commerce" by connecting devices to display screens for payment, marketing or loyalty programs.

"Omnichannel" isn't just a buzzword to describe marketing and payments in different formats—it also applies to corporate dealmaking as merchant acquirers catch M&A fever.

Nowait is adding payments to an app that manages customer wait lists at restaurants that don’t take reservations.

Many consumers still prefer to use cash when they owe someone else money. And plenty owe the Internal Revenue Service money at this time of year.

A taxpayer's annual refund is a big prize that fraudsters are eager to steal. Many new risks are being introduced by new technology, but there are cross-industry efforts to combat these new schemes and make sure each refund gets to the proper household.