Mobile payments

Mobile technology builder C-Sam has created a version of its mobile app development platform that's preconfigured with MasterPass specifications for financial institutions and processors to more easily build custom versions of MasterCard's digital wallet.

Google Wallet has undergone several major revisions since it launched and while the issues solved with its latest iteration were among its biggest hurdles, it's still too soon to declare a winner in the mobile wallet race.

If retail stores seemed a little less crowded over the holiday weekend, tablets or smartphones are likely to blame, as the volume of e-commerce payments made via mobile devices surged during what some are now calling the "Cyber Five" shopping days — from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.

Fraud prevention provider ValidSoft has joined the Fast Identity Online Alliance to help create standards for online authentication, the company announced Dec. 3.

Online remittance provider Xoom has followed up the quick start to its mobile payment services with local partnerships to allow the company's money transfer service to work across multiple channels.

The PayPal Digital Gifts website is a new e-commerce hub that sells virtual gift cards that can only be purchased using the eBay subsidiary's digital wallet.

NCR has been working to become a "hardware-enabled, software-driven business" for eight years. With its purchase of online and mobile banking vendor Digital Insight and transaction switching and fraud detection software company Alaric Systems, it's taken a big step forward.

NCR Corp. has agreed to purchase Menlo, Calif.-based Digital Insight Corp. for $1.65 billion. Separately, NCR also completed a purchase of Alaric Systems in London for $84 million.

Because of the changes that mobile will bring to the point of sale, the payments industry can expect to see acquisitions, consolidations and investments in that market over the next six to 12 months.

While nearly two thirds, or 61%, of U.S. online consumers have heard of a digital wallet, only 11% actually use one, an indicator that wallet providers still face challenges reaching consumers, according to Forrester Research.

MasterCard worked with Intel and Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors to establish a digital service that allows consumers to initiate online transactions by tapping their MasterPass card or Near Field Communication-enabled smartphone against a built-in NFC reader.

New York's city council recently voted to allow campaign contributions to be made by text message.

SmartMetric Inc. says it is in the “advanced development” stages of a plastic payment card that will unlock through a fingerprint scan and operate as a digital wallet.

Fraud schemes that rely on social engineering and other attacks to steal sensitive information are especially dangerous this time of year, when the hustle and bustle of the holiday season may lead consumers to let their guard down and skimp on security.

Fraud technology startup BillGuard is adding analytics and savings add-ons to its iPhone app.

McDonald’s has more than 34,000 locations in nearly 120 countries, making it an ideal testing ground for payments innovation. As such, many payments providers try get on its menu.

Direct Auto Insurance now offers customers the ability to pay their bills with a text message, allowing customers without smartphones to pay their bills on the go, too.

Customers of U.K.-based Nationwide Building Society now have Visa’s V.me digital wallet as a payment option when shopping online.

A Baby Boomer who has banked with the same small financial institution for more than 37 years hardly fits the mobile profile. But look below the surface and this mom is actually a prime candidate.

Banks in Hong Kong have established standards for the creation of a Near Field Communication-based mobile payment infrastructure in the region.