Online payments

Three massive companies, Alipay, Apple and PayPal, are on a collision course as they move to shake up the global e-payments market.

PayPal is on track to handle 1 billion mobile transactions this year, but the company can't yet say it will benefit from the imminent launch of Apple Pay.

The growing prevalence of Internet-connected devices, along with a seemingly endless string of data breaches, is creating more opportunity to convince retailers to safeguard sensitive account data through new technology.

Alipay, the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. financial affiliate controlled by Jack Ma, is trying to gain a foothold with U.S. retailers by offering them tools to help sell to consumers in China.

A Twitter Inc. account and a bank card is all you'll need in France to tweet money to a friend or a charity. The transfers will be based on a simple rule: no retweets.

PagBrasil, a payment processor in Brazil, has launched a product that provides accelerated confirmation for online payments made using boleto bancario, the electronic payment method in Brazil.

Providers of rapidly changing payments products such as prepaid cards, automated payments and dispute resolution are continuing to turn to independent sales organizations to reach targeted merchants.

Payment companies are building mobile loyalty and financial literacy programs to target today's digitally-savvy kids, but are discovering a physical presence is still necessary for redemption.

GoDaddy is partnering with online payments provider Stripe to entice small businesses to embrace e-commerce by adding faster credit approval and card acceptance.

EBay and PayPal were once rivals, but in 2002 they joined to become a single company. Since then, PayPal has worked to move beyond the confines of its parent's online auction site. It is now well prepared for its planned spinoff.

Investor Carl Icahn, who earlier this year pushed eBay to make PayPal a separate company, says he is pleased with eBay's decision to do so but is not totally satisfied with the timing.

By hiring former American Express executive Dan Schulman to lead an independent PayPal, the company is betting that his expertise — bringing innovation to a well-established international payments company — can ensure PayPal's survival.

American Express has named Neal Sample as president of its enterprise growth division.

EBay's planned spinoff of PayPal, announced today, is a necessary and inevitable response to the influx of disruption coming to the payments industry from unconventional sources. As companies like Amazon.com, Apple and Wal-Mart take a growing interest in the payments market, PayPal's status as a unit of a rival e-commerce company limited its role.

PayPal, the payments unit of eBay Inc., will be split off to form its own company under the leadership of new president Dan Schulman, eBay's board of directors announced Sept. 30.

Ukash is expanding its reach in Spain by working with Logista, giving the online cash payment provider a presence at nearly 13,000 more point of sale terminals in the country.

During World War II, Lockheed Martin created a program called Skunk Works, which used specialized teams of developers for lightning-fast brainstorming to accelerate the research and development of new planes. That is how a lot of payments innovation is getting done today.

Payments processor Stripe will partner with Facebook to provide technology behind the social network's "buy" button, according to a report in ReCode.

PayPal is going slow when it comes to Bitcoin, limiting its current focus to emerging channels and relying on partnerships with virtual-currency processors in North America.

Not all transactions have the same need for speed, so the Federal Reserve Banks' financial services unit will start with a narrow focus as it evaluates the development of a faster payments infrastructure in the U.S.