Mobile payments

In recent years, there's been a lot of activity in payments M&A, but a few deals stand out — some for their size, and others for their ability to transform both parties in a fundamental way.

The Wyomissing, Pa.-based firm is forgoing cash offers in favor of a more complicated plan that involves spinning the unit off to shareholders, who will then trade their stakes for shares in a Clearwater, Fla., community bank in a tax-free exchange.

To become a major payments option, the technology has to improve its voice accuracy and handling of voice in different environments.

Appliances, wearables, vehicles and other machines may deliver information directly to a blockchain that would validate personal and device identity.

While many consumers are indeed adding smartphone-driven digital pay and mobile order and pay options into their payments toolbox, cash continues to resonate with American consumers, who show little interest in being "all in" with cashless, or having their choices limited in any way, writes Brian Bailey, managing director of North America for Cardtronics.

American Express' incoming CEO may have to fundamentally change how the company makes money, if regulators and the Supreme Court side against it.

There's never an easy time to change leaders, but for American Express it's a particularly challenging time as it faces legal challenges to a core part of its fee structure and is still revamping its business model after a stinging client loss.

Person-to-person payments are a core area of interest beyond just the banking industry. The news that PayPal is bringing Venmo into e-commerce should be serious concern for many companies that wanted a piece of the P-to-P pie. But Venmo's success does not necessitate others' failure.

Companies and households should therefore be on the lookout for security patches of their wireless access points and endpoint devices like laptops, desktops and mobile devices, write Steven Murdoch and Frederik Mennes from Vasco Data Security

PayPal's latest move to promote Venmo for retail payments may be the company's clearest admission of the limitations of the PayPal brand.

Chinese tourists visiting the U.S. may begin paying cab fares via Alipay this month in Las Vegas and next month in New York through an expanded acceptance deal with Verifone.

BBVA has launched a new mobile app that is designed to help people in the U.S. send money to friends and family in Mexico — more quickly and cheaper than traditional remittance methods.

Fintech solutions to send cross-border payments to unbanked consumers through smartphones are gaining momentum globally, but the volume of remittances going to bank accounts in developing countries is also on the rise, according to Small World Financial Services.

Santander Group's fintech venture capital fund is investing in ePesos, a Mexican mobile funding and payments startup targeting underbanked small businesses.

Cash is resilient, especially during times of crisis or uncertainty. But there are significant efforts to make cash less relevant in areas where it has typically been a mainstay.

Most financial institutions use outdated legacy systems that are siloed by factors such as lines of business and geography, writes Suresh Ramamurthi, chairman and CTO of CBW Bank.

Omnyway wants to boost its global reach, necessitating a geographically diverse range of investors for its $12.75 million funding round, led by Nyca, CommerzVentures and CEFIF.

It has now been two years since the EMV fraud liability shift took effect in the U.S. for most companies. This is enough time to evaluate the EMV migration's effect on fraud, and whether it can be blamed for anything happening in digital channels.

AR technology is not all that new, but its wider support could bring fresh ideas to brick-and-mortar retail.