MasterCard will enable cardholders at Commonwealth Bank of Australia to load and store payment account credentials on some Samsung handsets, starting with the Galaxy S4.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Consumers are paying their bills in more ways than ever before - with the number paying bills from smartphones and tablets growing significantly - according to a new study.

JPMorgan Chase's recently published patent application for a free online payment system offers some hints about the bank's future payment plans.

Square has purchased Evenly, a company that provides services for person-to-person payments. The move heightens Square's competition with PayPal and bolsters its own Square Cash product.

A new company has formed to tackle the pressing issue of routing EMV debit transactions in compliance with federal mandates, a task the payments industry has undertaken for nearly two years.

MasterCard Inc. said its board of directors approved an 83 percent dividend increase and a 10-for-1 stock split.

Global Payments and mobile operator 1O1O have launched a mobile point of sale service in Hong Kong.

PayPal has invested in Loop Commerce, which offers a software-based gifting service for retailers.

Payments servicing provider Nortridge is integrating with PayNearMe's electronic cash transaction network to enable borrowers to make payments at 7-Eleven and ACE Cash Express stores, thus reducing the risk lenders would face in in accepting cash payments at their own locations.

Mobile wallet providers such as PayPal, Google and LevelUp already allow consumers to add funds by scanning a credit or debit card with a smartphone's camera. Banks can use similar technology to allow customers to open and fund new accounts from a mobile phone.

Square's updated mobile card reader adds a lot of new technology, but its omissions speak volumes about the company's strategy.

DB Networks has joined the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council.

State financial regulators have received few applications for licensing Bitcoin businesses even as they've handled many inquiries about them, according to David Cotney, the commissioner of banks in Massachusetts.

PreCash Inc. says consumers using its Evolve Money online and mobile application for cash bill payments will now have the option to use a debit or prepaid card.

The Merchant Customer Exchange has added Exxon Mobil, Rite Aid, Kum & Go and Giant Eagle as participating merchants in its mobile wallet.

PayPal is increasing investment in mobile systems as the electronic-payment service bets that smartphones will increasingly be used instead of cash and credit cards, President David Marcus said.

The FTC's goal of compensating victims of merchant fraud is laudable. But effectuating that goal through a "crackdown" on processors and ISOs, which effectively makes them insurers of merchant fraud, seems misguided.

The many factors necessary for mobile commerce to succeed are finally converging at the start of the 2013 holiday shopping season.

Monitise is starting with a relatively simple mobile money deployment in Hong Kong, with plans to turn it into a major payments business throughout China.

Clinkle, the mobile payments startup that's attracted high-profile investment form Silicon Valley, has laid off 16 employees.