Mobile wallets

Alipay is a force to be reckoned with outside of China, but it has taken a strategic approach to foreign markets that downplays its potential as a threat to local payment systems.

It took some time to get there, but mobile wallets may have finally found their niche — boosted more by e-commerce than by the point of sale systems they were designed for.

The merged bank would set up an innovation and technology center in Charlotte as part of its bid to compete better against the largest institutions and fintech startups.

Often considered a rival to mass transit, Uber is inching closer to public transportation by embedding Denver's system for routes within its app, with the capability to purchase and use tickets coming soon.

Samsung’s been pushing for government support for its blockchain and cryptocurrency technology for much of the past year, and early Galaxy S10 leaks suggest a built-in crypto wallet will be among the handset's planned features.

The mobile point of sale pioneer Square has done much to expand its product range to stay competitive, and a few of those efforts have made the company more of a direct threat to banks.

The mobile point of sale pioneer Square has done much to expand its product range to stay competitive, and a few of those efforts have made the company more of a direct threat to banks.

Just a few years ago, tech companies imagined a world where Bluetooth beacons would push alerts to consumers' smartphones as they walked by a store or navigated its aisles. The tech isn't gone, but it's become more subtle in how it's being used.

Self-checkout was only the beginning. In today's high-tech, mobile-driven world, there's a heightened demand for making purchases quickly and seamlessly. And it's a demand that no human could possibly meet.

Banks, retailers and technology companies have spent years relentlessly working to replace cash with plastic, digital or mobile alternatives. And cash has hit back hard.

Samsung is exploring the development of a smartphone-based cryptocurrency wallet, according to a recent patent application the electronics giant filed in the U.K.

Nearly a year after Chinese phone maker Huawei announced plans to expand Huawei Pay internationally, the mobile payment service has gone live in Russia, its first foreign market.

Mobile payments technology has fallen short of expectations in major markets, particularly the U.S., where less than 10 percent of consumers routinely use devices to pay in stores — despite more than four years of aggressive development from large technology companies and banks.

Walmart is already a retail heavyweight, and it has never shied from innovative projects to change the way people pay.

The turning point was Apple Pay, which Discover did not support until September of 2015, nearly a year after the mobile wallet's launch.

Paysafe has partnered with Paytm Canada, the Toronto-based division of Indian mobile payments juggernaut Paytm, to improve the capabilities of Paytm's Canadian app, which currently supports utility and bill payments.

Part of the issue is that in the U.S., contactless cards didn't pave the way for mobile as they did in other regions. Without widespread acceptance of contactless cards, merchants were put in the position of being asked to upgrade their terminals for mobile without any promise that the investment would pay off.

In the past few years the Chinese government has loosened restrictions on foreign travel, enabling millions of its citizenry to visit foreign lands. Along with a greater ability to travel is the enhanced prosperity Chinese consumers have reaped at home — and now bring with them on vacations to purchase foreign goods.

UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG are among a number of Swiss companies being investigated by the local antitrust authority over whether they boycotted international mobile payment services to promote a domestic competitor.

Kenyans using the M-Pesa wallet to make payments and receive funds can now send cross-border payments through a connection with Western Union's global platform.