In an effort to foster innovation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching a data driven initiative that will intially involve several financial-services startups.

Fifth Third Bancorp now offers its own prepaid card, called Access 360, which carries a $7 monthly fee and provides free cash withdrawals from Fifth Third Bank ATMs.

Powa Technologies, Europe’s answer to Jack Dorsey’s Square, is considering an initial public offering after its U.S. competitor raised $200 million from investors including Starbucks.

The New York Attorney General' office reached a $9.5 million settlement with SmartBuy after it fraudulently charged thousands of soldiers who bought electronics, adversely impacting their credit.

Commercial bankruptcy filings slowed this year but are on track to be higher than the annual averages for pre-recession years. Experts say businesses must protect themselves from financially unstable partners.

Blackhawk Network is taking its Gift Card Mall, a common sight in retail stores, into the digital world.

Bitcoin enthusiasts, playing off the holiday tradition of Black Friday sales, held their own Bitcoin Friday last week, leading to a spike in Bitcoin transactions at some — but not all — participating merchants.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Methodist Healthcare FCU is the latest credit union to sign with Geezeo to implement the company’s white label personal financial management and engagement banking solution.

LONGVIEW, Wash. – Red Canoe CU has installed Financial Management Solutions, Inc.’s Teller Management System to streamline branch transaction analysis at its seven branch locations better optimizing the branch workforce.

To provide quick, secure signup and login to its customers, Virtual Piggy Inc. has integrated its online payment system with PayPal.

Visa Inc. continues to bolster its V.me digital wallet service, announcing that 50 more banks and credit unions will adopt the service.

When a natural disaster or other tragedy strikes, the nonprofit sector is a critical force that mobilizes to aid in the recovery effort. And to keep these organizations funded, many of these groups are using payments technologies from providers like mGive and Groupon to connect with donors and more quickly and cost-effectively raise money.

Boston commuters now have the option of using their smartphones to purchase tickets for the city’s rail lines and display the ticket’s bar code to rail conductors for scanning.

Bank of America is launching a Square-like card-swiping device for smartphones called Mobile Pay on Demand. The service will be marketed through B of A’s Atlanta-based joint venture with First Data, Bank of America Merchant Services.

Banks suffering financial losses from writing off transaction disputes may lessen that blow with new ACI Worldwide Inc. software designed to automate what has been a time-consuming and costly process.

Small retailers still aren’t catching on to the Payment Card Industry data security standards, according to recent survey results.

The state of Louisiana has selected CGI Technologies and Solutions Inc. to help put in place a plan to improve the state's government debt collections.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Pano Logic, the once-promising company that was at the forefront of the desktop virtualization movement, has shut down, just weeks after the company announced that Redstone FCU was going to replace 75% of its personal computers with Pano Logic's virtual desktops, and save 60% on computing costs.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Summit CU is the first credit union to implement with Catalyst Corporate FCU’s Mobile Capture service, powered by Bluepoint Solutions.

Expanding its partnership with ChinaPay, Western Union is allowing institutions of higher education and universities to accept student fees and international tuition in the Chinese Renminbi.