Recent stock sales impacted bank issuers differently, depending on why they came to market. But nearly all of them outperformed the KBW Index in the ensuing month, even those suffering heavy dilution.

For most large companies, products and services are what cements a strong reputation. Not so for banks. At least since the crisis, consumers have cared more about the governance of banks. And even more than governance, what they care about now is performance.

Mobile-payment systems that mimic the capabilities of Near Field Communication chips often are categorized as a “bridge technology,” but they may ultimately turn out to be a bridge to nowhere.

Call it cash-back rewards for credit card lenders.

Call it cash-back rewards for credit card lenders.

Online and mobile-payment startup Dwolla Corp. has been building a payment network called Grid that company executives believe to be more secure than MasterCard Worldwide’s and Visa Inc.’s card networks.

CHANDLER, Ariz. – First CU said it is converting to a new Episys processing system provided by Symitar over the long July 4th weekend.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service CU has introduced its first mobile banking app and FinanceWorks, a free personal financial management system.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Teachers CU is upgrading its 85 Diebold Opteva ATMs by adding monitoring services to enhance security and ATM uptime and incorporating deposit automation technology to improve convenience.

Bill-payment processor Tio Networks Corp. is making headway with its mobile bill-payment application.

In its first major play to connect its mobile-payments service with social media, Starbucks Coffee Co. on June 30 unveiled a mobile-payment application it developed in-house that consolidates the features of previous apps with links to enable users to send Starbucks gift cards via Facebook.

States’ efforts to rein in fly-by-night companies are starting to have an effect on some payments startups’ operations.

Fiserv Inc.’s deal to buy the software vendor CashEdge Inc. narrows the field of contenders vying for dominance in the growing person-to-person payments space.

Dynamics Inc. made a splash last year with the launch of a Citigroup-issued multipurse card that has a built-in screen and keypad, but the mobile wallet systems that have been announced since then–including Google Wallet, which also has Citi’s support, duplicates all of those features.

Technology vendor Fiserv Inc. is making a bold move to bolster its digital payments arsenal by shelling out $465 million to buy the smaller technology company CashEdge Inc.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Wemelco CU has contracted with Vantiv, the former Fifth Third Processing Solutions, to provide it with ATM and debit card transaction processing, ATM driving, card production and network gateway access.

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Metropolitan Area FCU is now letting its members bank by Facebook.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – The flurry of takeover activity continued to heat up yesterday in the payments sector with Fiserv announcing a deal to acquire CashEdge, the privately owned provider of P2P and other digital payment technologies.

VeriFone Systems Inc. continues to gain momentum in the contactless-terminal market for taxis is the Asia-Pacific region, signing a contract to supply 15,600 contactless payment terminals to the largest taxi fleet in Singapore.

In a move that could increase competition in Taiwan’s mobile-payments market, telecommunication operator Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. has declared plans to begin offering payment services by the end of this year.