Payment processing

Young people have a much different relationship with credit, requiring retailers to find different ways to enable financing to encourage larger purchases.

The Automated Clearing House is too expensive and complex to provide faster payments for smaller banks and businesses, claims Dwolla, which contends its open system is a better option for those market segments.

Three large U.K. banks have suffered recent payment glitches, including temporary outages at HSBC, Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland—suggesting existing bank payment systems are challenged to process digital transactions.

MCX has announced Inmar will be the promotions management and processing vendor for its CurrentC mobile payments system, but it has not revealed the names or number of consumer goods manufacturer participants, a lack of disclosure that analysts say challenges the launch's credibility.