AUSTIN, Texas — For credit unions and banks, payments innovations like Apple Pay and Bitcoin tend to be a double-edged sword. Such groundbreaking technology will almost necessarily be accompanied by security and compliance vulnerabilities.

Apple Pay and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have a lot of appeal for banks looking to stay at the cutting edge of digital payments. But security and compliance risks are part and parcel of these innovations.

Apple Pay and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have a lot of appeal for banks looking to stay at the cutting edge of digital payments. But security and compliance risks are part and parcel of these innovations.

A false sense of security still emanates from 70% of information technology teams that feel they are safe from cyberattacks, despite evidence that data breaches are a growing and ongoing threat.

For the past two years, acquirers and processors have taken aim at the lengthy EMV chip-card certification process as a major stumbling block for U.S. merchants preparing to upgrade from magnetic stripe technology in time to avoid a shift in fraud liability.

ANACONDA, Mont. — Visitors to Southwest Montana Community FCU's web site over the weekend got a disturbing welcome — a black screen bearing an ISIS logo and the words "Hacked By Islamic State (ISIS)."

Banks can expect to incur higher costs in several areas during the implementation of a settlement agreement to improve the accuracy of credit reports. But they might benefit in the long run by getting better information on borrowers.

Planet Payment is working with Pay.On to leverage its international gateway products.

Yoyo, a QR code-based mobile wallet provider, is cutting through the noise to find a working strategy for its product.

PayPal is creating a new cyber-security center in Tel Aviv as part of its acquisition of Israeli security vendor CyActive.

Seeking a uniform process for card-not-present transactions in the Single Euro Payments Area throughout Europe, the European Payments Council has created a blueprint for an interoperable card and terminal infrastructure.

Few would dispute that the U.S. ought to move to a faster payment system. But the hurdles to modernizing the infrastructure are daunting, said participants in a panel at this week's Retail Banking 2015 conference.

Starbucks Corp. will expand its mobile- ordering service to four Western states, building on a test that lets customers in Portland, Oregon, transmit their requests for lattes and mochas before entering a store.

A lot of change in the payments business is unavoidable, such as EMV-chip cards and mobile commerce, so the high-tech card maker Stratos plans to replace its cards each year as part of a membership program.

It is fitting that Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the Apple Watch presentation by showing off a Mickey Mouse watch face. The Apple Watch shares a lot more than its design sense with Disney's successful MagicBand wearables.

Jeffrey Robinson is hardly a fan of Bitcoin (the title of his latest book, "BitCon," kind of gives it away.) But as the author of a classic 1990s book about money laundering, even he says that Bitcoin is a terrible tool for that particular crime, despite the digital currency's reputation. He explains why in the second part of a conversation with American Banker's Marc Hochstein.

Digital money transfer company Xoom is working with the bank HBL to enable instant deposits in more Pakistani bank accounts.

James Anderson, senior vice president of shared platform services in the emerging payments group at MasterCard, has been "droning on" for nearly a decade about contactless payments. And the industry is finally catching up.

The payments industry is changing fast. From the launch of Apple Pay to the march toward EMV, merchants, card networks, banks and consumers are rethinking their assumptions and expectations and this year’s honorees are not only navigating change, they are leading it.

"We can start by changing the conversation. It's not about the latest gadget or shiny object, instead it's about the impact this technology is having on consumers and businesses."