Person-to-Person Payments

Banking-services provider Fiserv Inc. announced on Monday a free widget that will let banks readily create a simplified bill-payment function on the so-called landing page of their online-banking sites. The widget, which starting some time in the second quarter will also enable person-to-person payments, is a piece of code that …

With an eye on the image-exchange networks banks have built since Check 21 took effect more than five years ago, analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the head of the rules-setting organization for image exchange are proposing a new form of payment that would allow consumers and …

American Express Co. is acquiring Revolution Money Inc. for $300 million in a move the two companies say will help the travel-and-entertainment card giant move into next-generation electronic payments while providing a major boost for Revolution's nascent Internet-based payments platform. The deal enhances AmEx's position in the alternative-payments niche, but …

Mercantile Bank of Michigan has an answer for observers who want to know why financial institutions are starting to show an interest in person-to-person payments. It comes down to competition for deposits, says John Schulte, senior vice president and chief information officer at the bank, which will introduce a commercial …

Electronic person-to-person payments have been around this entire decade, but they're still largely the domain of specialists such as PayPal Inc. and a host of tech companies. But leading bank processors are getting into the P2P act, and if they're successful they could spur greater usage from the consumer mainstream …

Banks face a new threat in electronic payments, according to a report just out from Javelin Strategy and Research: the ability of telecommunications companies to take the driver's seat in mobile person-to-person payments. This risk comes to the fore as the number of so-called smart phones explodes and consumers show …

Fifth Third Bank will be offering global money-transfer services at its 1,300 branches in 12 states under an agreement The Western Union Co. announced Monday. The new service is part of the Cincinnati-based bank's ongoing effort to provide services to the unbanked and underbanked, Mark Erhardt, senior vice president of …

The person-to-person payment business, which has attracted a number of new players already this year, grew more crowded on Tuesday with the announcement by CashEdge Inc. that it will launch a service later this year. Executives with New York City-based CashEdge, which specializes in supporting online account opening and account-to-account …

MasterCard Inc. on Wednesday announced its person-to-person payment service for mobile phones has launched in the U.S. with one issuer on board and an untold number waiting in the wings. The card network's Mobile MasterCard MoneySend service, which has been in the works for at least a year (Digital Transactions …

A new service debuted on Monday in Canada for which there is no equivalent in the U.S.: a single mobile person-to-person payments offering from the nation's three major wireless telecommunications companies. The service, called Zoompass, also is linked to a prepaid MasterCard PayPass contactless card that gives it utility at …