Mobile payments

PSCU also found in its second-annual payments study that Americans were turning to debit cards over credit cards.

As merchants and issuers add mobility for staff, they must come to grips with the shortcomings of mobile security, says Blue Cedar's John Aisien.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Vestager confirmed that regulators are taking a closer look at potential competition issues, describing alerts she’s seen to set up Apple Pay on her own handset.

Venmo’s P2P social payment app has become a major part of PayPal’s retail strategy, a play that’s getting a boost from a Synchrony co-branded credit card.

The U.K.-based fintech says that a recent crowdfunding campaign shows demand for its product, even though the amount it raised is well below funds obtained from VCs.

Technology companies like Square and Stripe have nimbly captured small-business share from banks that often overlooked the segment. Royal Bank of Canada is trying to respond through a mix of merchant services, tied to the national debit system and incentive marketing.

Digital services are gaining momentum, and traditional plastic cards are adding innovation to keep up after years of lagging, says FIME's Stéphanie El Rhomri.

Even the homeless are getting on board with contactless payments, through a new U.K. wide initiative between Swedish payments company iZettle and the Big Issue Foundation, which enables homeless people to become street vendors by selling its its Big Issue magazines.

American Express is adding a new dimension to its year-old partnership with PayPal by giving credit card customers more options for splitting a restaurant check and paying with loyalty points.

South Africa’s payments industry wants to displace cash by enhancing its B2B-focused digital payment system to add instant low-value mobile P2P transactions.