Retailers

With its IPO out of the way, First Data is accelerating its focus on merchant technology, and that means luring the developers who are rapidly changing how people shop and pay.

Starbucks and Square, once the hottest couple of the payments world, are splitting up. But their relationship was never perfect; signs of trouble were obvious from the very start.

No wonder Jack Dorsey wants to keep running Square. Dorsey, the payment company's chief executive officer who also just took on the same role at Twitter, is the largest shareholder in Square by a wide margin, with 24.4 percent. The investment firm Khosla Ventures is the second-largest with 17.3 percent, according to Square's registration for an initial public offering filed Oct. 14.

As mobility has become embedded in the world’s cultures, issuers are feeling the heat to create their own mobile apps, but in an era of non-top data breaches and increasing identity theft, security fears abound.

The European mobile point of sale provider payworks plans to expand in the United Kingdom through the hiring of former Verifone executive Frank Landen.

When Square announced its payment processing deal with Starbucks three years ago, accompanied by a $25 million investment from Starbucks, it wasn't clear how the math would benefit the payment processor.

When Netflix announced that its new U.S. subscriber count had declined 10.2% year-over-year, it blamed the "ongoing transition to chip-based credit and debit cards." And the video-streaming company may not be the only victim of this phenomenon.

First Data Corp. raised $2.56 billion in its initial public offering, pricing the shares below the marketed range.

The EMV standards will change card security. But what may have more impact on the bottom line is churn.

Square, the mobile-payments company founded and led by Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey, filed for an initial public offering.

Starbucks Corp. is adding video screens to the drive-thru lanes of 2,400 cafes in the U.S., an attempt to revamp a decades-old ordering system that has become central to how restaurant chains interact with customers.

Payment technology that comes with the EMV stamp of approval already in place may get a boost as a result of the bottleneck newer systems face in getting certified.

The changing demands of consumers who are increasingly mobile, and the emergence of disruptive technology, are changing the payment model for financial institutions.

Many points of research show that as many as half of small businesses suffer from cash flow problems. In fact, the majority of small business owners cite cash flow as their number one challenge.

When Apple revealed that Starbucks plans to accept Apple Pay in its U.S. stores, the move spoke less to Apple's persuasiveness and more to the fallout of the country's ongoing shift to EMV security.

EMV card acceptance has often been pitched as a catalyst for mobile wallets, since the terminal upgrades needed to accept EMV-chip cards could also enable contactless mobile payments. But mobile and EMV are not always on the same path.

Apple Inc. is rolling out its mobile-payments service for select Starbucks Corp. stores by the end of the year, and will reach 7,500 company-owned stores in 2016, the coffee chain said in a statement. KFC stores and Chili’s Grill & Bar will make Apple Pay available in next year as well, Jennifer Bailey, the Apple vice president in charge of the service, said at the Code/Mobile conference Oct. 8.

Adoption of mobile payments has been slow, and it's not clear why. Some have suggested the problem is a lack of understanding among consumers. Others have questioned whether mobile payments really address a consumer pain point.

Fifth Third Bank has formed a partnership with cloud-based payment and digital banking provider Bottomline Technologies to provide electronic payment services to the bank’s business customers.

Europe has been a clear leader in the adoption of EMV. One notable migration took place in the United Kingdom. The U.K. began the process of promoting EMV in 2002 and completed the full roll out in 2006.