Today, many gas stations add a fee when motorists pay for fuel with a plastic card. Royal Dutch Shell PLC is ramping up promotion on an alternative: pay with the decoupled debit card it introduced in 2009 and save two cents a gallon.

Today’s modern payment systems have their genesis in a number of older ventures that plied everything from the Web to biometrics to enable digital commerce. Some are gone, and some have evolved unrecognizably into their current form. Here’s a look.

Until recently, the card network generally prohibited its retail partners from offering special deals to customers that paid with a specific bank's credit or debit card. But Visa quietly lifted the ban on Feb. 1, paving the way for retailers to cut deals with card issuers, according to Visa group president of the Americas William Sheedy.

Visa Inc. is providing payment technology developers and mobile network operators with a clearer path to the Visa network.

The chip-and-PIN version of PayPal's Here mobile card reader is set to debut overseas this year, but the splash will be felt in the U.S. as well.

Forcing the networks to let merchants surcharge for card payments will remove the advantage of retailers that accept only cash or other alternatives such as Bitcoin.

At the Apple Store, people don't pay the same way they do everywhere else. They swipe cards on mobile devices and accept emailed receipts instead of printed ones. Now that Google is reportedly kicking the tires on a retail store concept, maybe it can do the same, putting Google Wallet in the spotlight.

SALT LAKE CITY – University FCU has hired Millennial Vision Inc. to streamline its archival and retrieval processes, while empowering members to research their digitally stored docs day or night.

TOLLAND, Conn. – Geezeo is partnering with OSG Statement Services to provide credit unions with monthly paper and electronic statements that display data provided by the company’s personal financial management solution.

SALEM, Ore. – Oregon Employees FCU is implementing Alkami’s new Online Relationship Builder platform, which the company said allows the credit union to personalize a member’s online banking experience.

PayPal Inc. plans to launch a chip-and-PIN version of its mobile card reader, called PayPal Here, in the UK this summer.

Jumio is launching a mobile version of Netverify, an application that allows businesses to authenticate customers' identities.

Paysafecard Group has added an online payment option that eliminates the need for users of the prepaid cards to enter PIN codes for each purchase.

After gaining momentum last year for its Payzur person-to-person payment system, Atlanta-based online PIN debit provider Acculynk has gone into a higher gear with transactions routing over the Pulse network.

Once the redheaded stepchild of consumer banking, the prepaid card business now looks more like the industry's future.

Square's sales pitch has largely been based on the ease of plucking its mobile card reader of a retail store's shelf and suddenly being able to accept swiped card payments. But for some merchants, it hasn't been so easy.

When TSYS announced its purchase of NetSpend this week, it seemed like an odd fit for the 30-year-old processor. But NetSpend isn't just some tangential business line — at some point, prepaid cards (and the companies that offer them) became a very real threat.

Short sales and forgiveness of second liens led relief efforts made by the top five banks as part of the national mortgage settlement, and Californians continue to receive the bulk of the benefits.

VeriFone Systems Inc. shares tumbled as much as 35 percent after the maker of credit-card terminals forecast second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates, amid weak economic conditions in Europe.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi is providing a customer service and security boost for its 570-unit ATM network throughout the United Arab Emirates.