Mobile payments

Google is helping developers cut steps out of the path to accepting digital payments with several key moves unveiled around the Google I/O developers conference taking place this week.

Users of the Walmart MoneyCard, issued by Green Dot, took to social media Wednesday to complain about problems they've encountered checking balances and accessing funds. The problems come at inopportune time for Green Dot.

There is merit to the 'coopetition' strategy, such as faster time to market and reduced consumer confusion. But time and again, bitter rivals such as telcos and big-box retailers try to work together only to see their efforts fall apart or vastly reduce the scope of their goals.

Payments’ future in wearables is promising, but if one thing is clear already, it's that banks have no business designing fashion accessories.

Google’s upcoming personal assistant and cross-platform messaging apps make substantial use of payments, though the transactions exist entirely in the background to encourage a smooth user experience.

Android Pay went live in the U.K. Wednesday, making the nation the first outside of the U.S. to support the service.

Back in 2014, Dekkers Davidson, then CEO of the Merchant Customer Exchange, declared that the mobile wallet venture would draw inspiration from Uber and be just as disruptive to financial services as the popular ride-sharing app was to the taxi industry. But Uber's success stems largely from its decision to make payments invisible, whereas MCX was developing its CurrentC wallet to do just the opposite.

Fifth Third Bancorp has hired Citigroup's Melissa Stevens to the newly created position of chief digital officer and head of omnichannel banking.

When Walmart switched on Walmart Pay this week at 600 stores in two states, it marked the beginning of a new era, when merchants finally take the reins in mobile payments — and, by extension, the future of digital commerce.

The Merchant Customer Exchange, a retailer-backed mobile wallet venture of over three years in the works, has postponed its plans for a national rollout of its mobile wallet.

Walmart Pay, the mega-retailer's mobile wallet, has gone live at its stores in Texas and Arkansas in anticipation of a national rollout.

More banks in Australia are lining up support for Android Pay, giving Google's contactless payment system some firmer footing in international markets.

WePay's bread and butter has been offering a streamlined e-payments hookup for online merchant platforms, and it's now adding in-person payments to keep businesses with offline needs from turning to the likes of Square.

Like any long-term relationship, Walmart and Visa have had their ups and downs. Sometimes these interactions were solely between the two companies; but many times, Walmart and Visa's conflicts gave a voice to the entire retail and payments industries.

If he's worried about fintech upstarts or bitcoin offering a high-tech alternative to Western Union's bread-and-butter business of money transfer, Chief Information Officer David Thompson doesn't let on.

As a supermarket chain with no supermarkets, FreshDirect has always been an early mover by design. That made Samsung's Internet-connected refrigerator a natural fit.

Walt Disney Co., having found success with its wearable MagicBand payment system, is retiring the paper "Disney Dollars" it has long accepted from parkgoers.

Citigroup is testing Bluetooth beacon technology in a pilot that gives customers cardless access to branch ATMs after business hours, among other services.

Apple Pay's slow expansion around the world seems to have gotten a jolt with the announcement of multiple Canadian issuers signing on, but it still faces many of the same roadblocks that have plagued adoption elsewhere.

The 'app economy' is getting larger by the year, and a team of entrepreneurs firmly rooted in the payments establishment sees big trouble ahead when it comes to facilitating transactions.