Payments

Russia's Sberbank, the third largest bank in Europe, will use Host Card Emulation technology for its mobile payments initiatives as a way to eliminate players and cut the costs of deployment.

LifeLock Inc. left many of its customers "extremely frustrated" when it pulled its mobile wallet app off the market last week because of potential security gaps, but those customers understand it was the right thing for the company to do, CEO Todd Davis says.

Nordea Bank will offer iZettle's mobile card readers to its small business customers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

Analytics of consumer payments data has transformed the ways credit card companies understand and engage their customers and prospects.

Banks are not as aggressive as the many technology startups competing to dominate the mobile payments market, but their slow pace is justified, a new report says.

Bank of America Corp. plans to allow new transaction types, such as corporate disbursements, to be made through the bank-led clearXchange person-to-person payments network.

Prepaid product and transaction services company InComm has launched a platform for mobile payments and commerce.

Payments company BlueSnap is adding tax tools in an attempt to make it easier for e-commerce merchants to expand to more countries.

WePay has increased its addressable market in the small-business sector by about 600,000 through a partnership with e-marketing and website design provider Constant Contact.

LifeLock Inc. has temporarily pulled its LifeLock Wallet app off the market to address security issues.

WePay's decision to halt a crowdfunding initiative for an adult film actress struck a nerve as payments companies are seen distancing themselves from people in the adult entertainment industry.

Payments processor mopay is now offering an HTML5 in-app billing solution for online merchants doing business in India.

Groupon Inc. is expanding its in-store payments business with a new service that lets merchants identify customers with the company's coupons and enable them to pay for purchases using Apple Inc.'s iPad mini.

MasterCard has agreed to purchase Opus Software's electronic payment and card technology subsidiary ElectraCard Services.

Yapital Financial AG is seeking bank partners in Europe for its mobile payment app, but it's insisting on a long courtship.

Host Card Emulation technology, which allows mobile devices to emulate a secure Near Field Communication transaction, is catching on fast so fast that it would be unwise for any company to ignore it, says ABNote CEO Steven Singer.

Users of new technology often invite derision—Google Glass wearers are "Glassholes," iPhone devotees are "iSheep"—and mobile wallet users may soon be the next target of such ridicule.

Square has added and removed many features over its few short years as it refines its mobile-pay pitch in an effort to win more merchants. Its removal of the Square Wallet app was the latest of many revisions to the company's strategy.

The Dutch startup Eaze has begun the public beta of its "Nod to Pay" app for the Google Glass headset and has added support for two Bitcoin wallets.

Loyalty programs can be a challenge because in Brazil's anti-coupon culture. Pizza Hut is overcoming this hurdle with a combined loyalty and prepaid card.