Apriva, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based wireless-payments company, on Sept. 8 announced the release of its AprivaPay wireless point-of-sale application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Australia’s taxation authority in September announced plans to seek contacts with various third-party providers to support its e-commerce payments.

Vodacom Pty. Ltd. is teaming with Nedbank Ltd. to launch the M-Pesa mobile cash-transfer service in South Africa, the mobile operator announced last week.

FICO, a provider of analytics and decision management technology, reports that a new survey found strong evidence of a credit gap for consumers as lenders expect credit availability to fall short of consumer demand through the end of 2010.

Obopay Inc. has struck a deal to route person-to-person funds transfers over First Data Corp.'s Star debit network, which accelerates the payments and could make the service more appealing to bank customers.

More banks should consider combining their debit and credit card rewards programs, which could better help them stave off customer attrition, according to the results of a survey released Tuesday by Synergistics Research Corp.

MasterCard Worldwide’s recent collaboration with a Belgium-based payment company to improve cross-border online shopping may be a way for the card company to compete with PayPal Inc., one expert contends.

Tyfone Inc. has received $5 million in financing from HDFC Holdings Ltd., Polaris Software Labe and Ojas Venture Partners, the provider of mobile-banking and mobile contactless-payment technology announced Sept. 7.

The mobile banking train hasn’t left the station yet, but time is running low to be considered an early adopter before the service becomes ubiquitous among banks. In the case of Bank of the West, which introduced its new mobile platform in late August, now’s the time to jump in as more banks will likely view mobile as a must-have in the near future.

A prepaid card company is trying to drive down fraud with an application that replaces plastic cards with virtual accounts that users access with mobile phones.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich.-Board members at OMNI Community CU have ditched paper-based board packets in favor of Apple's iPads.

Consumers are willing to purchase high-ticket items such as concert tickets through mobile-payment services, although many are dissatisfied with the process, according to a survey Netsize NA released this month.

Experts say Android is the hottest smartphone for mobile banking, but when it comes to payments, the Seattle coffee retailer hopes there is still a big opportunity in the increasingly neglected BlackBerry.

Virtual gift card provider Giftango Corp. on Sept. 1 released a software-development kit that enables mobile-phone application companies to develop gift card products consumers may use at the point of sale or redeem online.

Inner Fence, which makes the Credit Card Terminal application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, on Sept. 1 announced it is shipping the Credit Card Reader, which attaches to an iPhone’s dock connector.

With several smart card-based transit projects developing around the globe, shipments of smart cards supporting transit applications will grow at an 11% compound annual rate through 2015, new research suggests.

Visa Inc. hopes to prove to banks that a contactless payment chip in a mobile phone is a much more compelling product to consumers than the same chip in a plastic card.

VeriFone Systems Inc. plans to use its acquisition of Way Systems Inc. to attract more merchant interest in its mobile-payment systems. But the deal also eliminates a competitor, analysts say.

Consumer confidence in the economy in August stabilized after declining for three consecutive months, although the number percentage of consumers rating their personal finances as poor rose, according to new survey data Discover Financial Services released Sept. 1.

The average charge-off rate on U.S. consumer credit cards in July fell to a 16-month low, while delinquency rates also were better as credit card-portfolio health continued to improve, Fitch Ratings reported Sept. 1.