PINs are past their prime. Signatures? Forget it. With criminals increasingly on the prowl, much more robust technology is needed. The good news is such tech is available. But will consumers tolerate it? Despite a now almost 3-year-old decision by the four major U.S. card brands to make signatures optional …

A new PCI standard for using off-the-shelf mobile phones and tablets to accept tap-and-go payments should open the door for more contactless transactions. How much more is another question. It’s the ultimate conven­ience for a harried merchant: just whip out a regular smart phone or tablet and ask the customer …

The steam engine, the telephone, and the Internet are all innovations that gestated for a long time before realizing their eventual impact. Digital currency appears to be joining this list. Much as the telephone was more than a “Yankee replacement to errand boys,” in the words of a dismissive British …

Visa Inc. is working fast to expand its foothold in cross-border remittances, a relatively new market for the card network. Last month, MoneyGram International Inc. announced it is the first remittance service to allow international transfers that rely on Visa Direct, a push-payment service that enables real-time transfers to holders …

There is, perhaps, no subject in the digital-payments world more fraught with urgency these days than that of authentication. After all, just about all players in the payments chain, from merchant to service provider to processor to bank, have a huge stake in making sure the customer performing the transaction …

In a move that could have wide-ranging implications for a variety of payments, the Federal Reserve on Monday announced it will support a third settlement window each day for same-day automated clearing house transactions. The later settlement time, which ACH rule-making authority Nacha and a number of banks have long …

Over the last decade, we have seen an explosion in fintech, ushering in a new era of commerce. Payment innovations have closed the technology gap and have connected consumers all around the world—even those without bank accounts—to the digital marketplace. Many fast-emerging markets across Asia and Latin America have seen …

Proponents of credit card surcharging have received a Christmas present in the form of an Oklahoma attorney general’s official opinion declaring the state’s no-surcharging law unconstitutionally restricts free speech. The development means surcharge bans remain in only four states. State Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, asked Attorney General Mike Hunter …

East Coast convenience-store and gas-station chain Wawa Inc. reported Thursday that it discovered malware on its payment-processing servers that may have affected all of its 850-plus locations. And at least two more municipalities using the Click2Gov online-payment platform recently have reported possible data compromises. Wawa, Pa.-based Wawa said it discovered …

PayPal Holdings Inc. officially opened the door to a vast market for payments on Thursday with the closing of its deal for 70% of the equity in China’s Guofubao Information Technology Co. Ltd., better known as Gopay. The Peoples Bank of China had already okayed the deal, for which terms were …