Payment processing

Google will provide McDonald's customers in San Jose, Calif., this weekend with free burgers as a promotion for its Hands Free payment app at any of 47 participating restaurants.

Spanish gasoline retailer Repsol this week augmented its Near Field Communication-based mobile payments services by launching an app enabling motorists to pay for fuel without leaving the car.

What's most intriguing to payments industry insiders is what Walmart left on the table when designing Walmart Pay, and what those decisions could mean for retailers and bank card issuers.

E-commerce seems to have a better memory than brick and mortar stores, quickly scrutinizing shoppers' purchasing and browsing habits to provide recommendations and offers to keep them coming back.

At least 30 countries have either implemented a real-time or near-real-time payments system or are in the midst of implementing or planning one.

Seven months after revealing its branded mobile payment app, Walmart is making Walmart Pay available in more than 4,600 of its stores throughout the U.S., with early figures indicating consumers approve of its "connected" app model.

Payments processor Vantiv Inc. and buyout firm Warburg Pincus are among suitors seeking to buy a U.S. payments business owned by Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, according to people familiar with the matter.

Merchants are facing consumer lawsuits stemming from the introduction of EMV-chip card security at the point of sale in the U.S., exposing the issues many stores must contend with now that they are held liable for fraud and chargebacks.

Merchants have long sought to change how the card networks charge fees, and are getting a new chance after more than a decade of court squabbles.

Grocery chain Aldi, which manages overhead by requiring consumers to bag their own groceries, is a late adopter--but it is starting to add new payment types.