Mobile payments

MasterCard, eServGlobal and Bics have formed HomeSend, a joint venture that allows consumers to send money to and from mobile money accounts, cards, bank accounts or cash outlets.

La Caixa Bank says it will soon launch the largest mobile payment venture in Europe, once again placing the bank at the center of a major European payments initiative.

Jerome Cle has stepped down as CEO of SCCP Group. He will remain active as a board member and strategic advisor to the mobile payment technology provider.

A long winter delay at an airport is a perfect opportunity for the businesses that operate there. And especially during the holiday season, NCR Corp. aims to make sure airport merchants are properly equipped to handle payments for harried travelers.

Conductors on the Eurostar high-speed train service in Europe are using iZettle chip and PIN mobile card readers to accept payments from passengers seeking an upgrade in travel class.

German smart card testing company Comprion will use a robotic arm to simulate use cases of Near Field Communication technology, which is used in some contactless and mobile payment schemes.

Swedish pharmacy chain Apoteksgruppen will launch SEQR, Seamless' mobile wallet.

VeriFone reported a loss in the fiscal fourth quarter, but beat its internal guidance, and is touting new mobile payments initiatives as a way to improve performance in the future.

PayPal has purchased StackMob, which provides a development platform for mobile payments.

As payment companies add more mobile applications to accept transactions and speed processing, authentication will become more complex, says Todd Wilkinson, CEO of Datacard, which plans to bolster its identity technology for government and financial services clients via its acquisition of Entrust.

Discover Financial Services has begun testing a mobile payment system using biometric technology at its Riverwoods, Ill., headquarters.

Amazon has purchased GoPago, a company that enables consumers to use mobile apps to prepay for goods before picking them up at a store, according to reports.

Mitek, having successfully promoted its imaging technology as a way to deposit checks and pay bills with a smartphone's camera, is now taking aim at retail payments.

VoiP provider Rebtel has debuted Sendly, an app that allows users to send money to prepaid mobile subscribers in more than 50 countries.

Mobile point of sale services provider I Love Velvet has purchased WeXpay, an electronic wallet company.

Mobile commerce provider Spindle and mobile payment company iPayMobil have partnered to enable merchants to offer credit.

Lemon Inc. has made several significant updates within its mobile wallet this year, moving the storage app to an actual payments-facilitating product. But to scale, Lemon needed a partner with brand recognition, which it found in LifeLock Inc.

Flint is adding a number of new features to its software-based mobile acceptance app, including invoicing, Apple Passbook support and multi-item transactions.

Many companies are already looking past the mobile phone to find the next high-tech payment device. A few companies are also equipping fashion items with Near Field Communication chips and other technology that can be repurposed by the payments industry.

Tim Hortons was quick to take advantage of the host card emulation technology available in Google's new Android KitKat mobile operating system.