Payments

PayPal now enables Skype users to send funds to one another while chatting on Skype’s mobile app, but the connection came too late for investors who hoped to see this happen when PayPal and Skype lived under the same roof as subsidiaries of eBay.

Toronto-based Glance Technologies has introduced a new version of its Glance Pay mobile payments app that uses micro-location sensing technologies along with image recognition, an approach it says is easier for merchants to adopt than QR codes.

In what could be considered a premature verdict, LendEDU has released results from a survey conducted in July to assess awareness of the Zelle payment platform. The survey found that only 6.1% of interviewees had heard of Zelle — not bad given the audience and the timing of the survey.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit and blogs create environments where like-minded users can connect, share opinions and cultivate a sense of camaraderie, creating an unprecedented number of distinct nano-segments, writes Steve Gilde, director of global payments for Paragon.

As an open network, bitcoin is in one sense the most inclusive financial system imaginable. But for now, transfers of the cryptocurrency are priced like a luxury good.

American Express and MineralTree are partnering to streamline business-to-business payments by incorporating the Amex virtual corporate card platform into MineralTree's accounts payable processes.

Royal Bank of Canada has updated its mobile app to enable personal banking users to ask Siri to pay their bills on iPhone and iPad.

As the digital age reduces the wear on physical cards, how is it that some consumers are requesting new cards more frequently?

Subway is a classic example of an analog company that needed a digital upgrade.

In the next phase of India’s push to diminish the country’s heavy reliance on cash, the Reserve Bank of India has approved the rollout of a national electronic bill-payment system.

Vienna-based paysafecard, which enables unbanked consumers to make online payments using a service backed by a prepaid card, is expanding to the United Arab Emirates.

Uber and Lyft are both working on credit cards, with Uber's likely to be in circulation by the fall.

Improving accounts receivable can produce predictable cash flow that can be invested, lead to more innovation and increase overall efficiency, writes Flint Lane, CEO of Billtrust.

Banks are going to great lengths to sign up the so-called mass affluent for their credit cards. How far is too far?

Starbucks has hit a mobile payments milestone, with 30% of all U.S. transactions now coming through mobile, and to smooth operations surrounding its popular Mobile Order & Pay service, the company is introducing digital-ordering specialists at its busiest stores.

New entrants don’t pose a disruptive threat to the incumbent cohort of issuers, credit card networks and acquirers primarily because the incumbents — Visa, Mastercard and First Data — are prepared to compete in all segments of the market.

A task force convened by the Federal Reserve released its evaluations last week of 16 proposals to build a faster U.S. payment system. What follows is a brief look at some of the plans that received high marks.

Readers react to the CFPB’s final arbitration rule, a new potential hurdle for initial coin offerings, a housing finance reform proposal and more.

Charging what people are willing to pay is an exact science, claims First Insight's Jim Shea, who contends the loyalty programs and price perks that merchants offer aren't always necessary.

APIs allow businesses in every market to make payments online, quickly extend their own payment functionality and roll out new features with minimal effort, writes David Yohe, vice president of marketing at BillingTree.