A year after its birth announcement, the clearXchange person-to-person payments platform finally is set for its first national rollout through a new service called Send & Receive Money from one of its three big-bank owners, Wells Fargo & Co. But clearXchange, whose other owners are Bank of America Corp. and …

Annual Field Guide to Alternative Payments You’ll need a fair amount of memory on your hard drive to keep track of all the comings and goings in the bubbling world of alternative payments. By now, our Field Guide to Alternative Payments needs no introduction. It’s one of our most popular …

Eric Grover Low acceptance costs, convenience, and security aren’t enough. As this global review of would-be PayPals and Visas shows, startups need a clear path to a mass of users. With the advent of mobile payments, we read almost daily about new payments startups. And this avalanche of startups follows …

  It was announced with considerable fanfare almost a year ago, but since then little has been heard about the person-to-person payment service created by three of the nation’s top banks. Is clearXchange at risk of falling behind the competition? By Linda Punch When three powerhouses in financial services and …

PayPal Inc. on Wednesday lost its top executive just as the e-commerce processing giant has embarked on an ambitious strategy to handle transactions for brick-and-mortar stores. The departure of Scott Thompson, who has been PayPal’s president since 2008, also represents the second loss of a key executive at PayPal in …

The surging popularity of the smart phone has revived the digital wallet, and now Google, Visa, AmEx, the wireless carriers, and a wide assortment of other providers are jockeying for dominance in this nascent business. By Peter Lucas Still trying to make sense of the digital-wallet landscape? You\'re not alone. …

In a move that could be seen as a precursor to mobile in-store payments using so-called cloud-based near-field communication (NFC), PayPal Inc. is testing an app that works with contactless stickers to allow consumers to access their PayPal accounts. The test, which is taking place at two stores in Stockholm, …

  Major financial institutions are prepared to make bigger investments in mobile payments next year, but may not be moving fast enough to ward off non-bank competition, according to a report issued earlier this week. The chief type of mobile payments these institutions will be pouring money into in 2012 …

  For banks, the e-payments business has become an oasis of stability and growth at a time of financial turmoil. But the threat of non-bank entrants, together with inflexible legacy payments systems, could undermine the business just when banks need it most, warns Louis Blatt.   The pressure of maintaining …

  Keeping a Wary Eye on the Networks   Forget about Google and PayPal. Merchant acquirers are more worried about competitive threats from their long-time spouses by forced marriage, the payment card networks.   That intelligence comes from an Aite Group LLC survey of 20 industry executives, including 17 chief …