Jane Adler Facing pricing pressures from new competitors in their traditional business, the wire-transfer companies are seeking new growth opportunities. New technology is highly disruptive to established markets, and the payments business is no exception. Consider recent developments in the traditional wire-transfer business. As technology and consumer demand change the …

With its core daily-deal market getting crowded, market leader Groupon Inc. recently made two moves that position the company as a rival of independent sales organizations, value-added resellers, PayPal Inc., and others trolling for mobile-payments transactions from small merchants. In October, Chicago-based Groupon rolled out its Breadcrumb service, a point-of-sale …

Peter Lucas Despite backing from some of the country’s biggest carriers and tech firms, NFC-based mobile wallets are struggling to win acceptance with merchants and consumers alike. Does the solution lie in the cloud? It’s been tough sledding of late for digital wallets based on near-field communication (NFC), the contactless …

Karen Epper Hoffman Mobile-commerce developers are finding more ways for shoppers to make purchases without ever leaving the application. But will this approach outpace the mobile Web? As smart phones and tablet computers grow in processing power, screen clarity, and ubiquity, the question of whether people will buy goods and …

It’s time for bankers to stop looking at mobile technology merely as a cost cutter and start using it to make money, said speakers at a retail-banking technology conference on Tuesday. Banks that add a variety of new services to their mobile offerings ranging from in-store bar-code scanning to expedited …

Facebook Inc. watchers have had their antennae sensitized for some time for any scrap of news that might indicate the massive social network’s tendencies in payments. The company’s Monday announcement that it has begun supporting carrier billing for digital goods sold on its platform appears to be no exception. Already, …

Online PIN debit provider Acculynk Inc. on Wednesday entered the acquiring business with its acquisition of PayLeap, a 4-year-old gateway provider and processor based in Warsaw, Ind. Terms of the deal, which has already closed, were not released. Up to now, Acculynk has worked chiefly with big acquirers to sign …

Jane Adler With a growing array of digital wallets, retailers are testing multiple strategies—all at once. When it comes to digital wallets, retailers are like kids in a candy store. Lots of sweet offerings are on display. But instead of picking a favorite, some merchants take one of each to …

Steve Mott Financial institutions and retailers are natural allies—not enemies—and nowhere can this alliance yield more profitable results than in mobile payments. Here are five problems the two sides must solve to make the most of this great mobile alliance—along with five proposed solutions.(Editor’s note: This article is the second …

The nation’s biggest debit card issuers have reversed polarity and are now promoting PIN-debit cards over signature debit and small-value transactions over bigger tickets, if the results of a debit study released this week are any indication. “Certainly, there’s a fundamental shift under way” among large banks to focus on …