Payments

Shortly after spinning off PayPal, eBay shed another unit, the e-commerce powerhouse Magento Commerce, which is working to spread its wings beyond its core specialty of e-commerce sites.

The U.S. merchant acquirer-processor arena is so mature that the only dramatic gains typically come from consolidation, leading to even more formidable combinations that make the next phase of growth even tougher. But there are also opportunities for companies that know how to specialize.

New payment standards have banks worried about compliance costs, but there is an opportunity for innovation for aggressive institutions.

The neobank Compte-Nickel has opened more than 540,000 accounts since its launch three years ago.

Facebook’s WhatsApp, the Mountain View, Calif.-based messaging app with a broad global following, may be preparing to roll out person-to-person payments, beginning with its app in India.

The process of making cross-border payments to global suppliers is a hodgepodge of technology, banking systems and other factors that can lead to high error rates. And for most companies, such payments occur too infrequently to invite improvements to the process.

After launching a mobile pre-order and pre-pay app at Five Guys burger locations in Paris and Madrid, Ingenico ePayments is preparing to make the system available at the chain's restaurants throughout Europe in the coming months.

Businesses are shedding paper checks in favor of electronic payments, but the migration is not as easy as consumer payments.

Seamless is aggressively pushing the reach of its SEQR wallet through global partnerships designed to make the app available at millions of merchant locations, enable technology-agnostic transactions, and pry more retailers away from bank issued cards.

Splitit has partnered with Magento, the open-source e-commerce platform, enabling merchants to integrate Splitit’s monthly credit payment option into their checkout processes.

Amazon is lending its considerable brand and heft to a cash payment model that borrows a vital piece of real estate from Apple Pay.

The merger, which brings TMG CEO Shazia Manus into the CO-OP fold, is expected to directly impact more than half of all credit unions in the United States.

International payments technology provider Cardtek has created the emPAY mobile wallet with partner Emcredit to develop a nationwide payment platform in the United Arab Emirates.

There's been a lot of funding flowing into technology that targets the spending of Chinese travelers as they visit other countries. But this narrow use case isn't the only opportunity for investment and innovation.

Adoption is increasing, but most consumers would stop using the technology if they suffered a security incident

Today, less than 10% of all gift cards sold in the U.S. are digital. That could start to change, as the industry's heavy hitters break down the walls between their plastic and digital gift card operations to spur global growth.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s latest U.S. expansion plan is facing rising political obstacles.

In addition to 11.5 percent loan growth and membership rising at its fastest rate since 1987, membership at Michigan's CUs is growing faster than the state's population.

The 2012 Jobs Act let regular Americans invest in startups, spawning a glut of crowdfunding sites offering real ownership stakes in return for cash, rather than the new smartwatches or electric skateboards available on pioneering platform Kickstarter.

The payments giant has made a lot of money issuing loans to online shoppers with blemished credit histories. But now it is looking to reduce its risks.