March, 2022

• 1 March

  How to Get the Most Out of QR Codes

  

  This new payment technology is spreading fast, but a common set of specifications is urgently needed to ensure global compatibility. Walk down a street in China or India, and it becomes immediately apparent that quick-response (QR) codes are woven into the fabric of everyday life. Nothing demonstrates this more than …

October, 2019

• 1 October

  Folding the Wallet

  

  JPMorgan Chase plans to discontinue its Chase Pay mobile wallet. Other banks are shuttering their wallet apps, too. Is there no longer—or was there ever—a place for bank-sponsored wallets for mobile payments? Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, collectively “the Pays,” seem to get all the attention when the …

January, 2019

• 31 January

  Retailer Wallets Load Up

  

  Benefitting from a built-in customer connection, retailer wallets adroitly tap into shoppers’ purchasing habits in ways unavailable to the big tech wallets. Retailer mobile wallets are proliferating in part because the consumer can get something that she can’t with any of the tech-based apps. That is a high degree of …

September, 2018

• 30 September

  Signs of Life at the Pays

  

  Not so long ago, mobile-payments enthusiasts were asking what ailed Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. Now the Pays finally seem to be getting some traction, though their transaction market share is still minuscule. Is there hope for the Pays? After a summer of generally positive developments, the mobile-payment …

June, 2018

• 29 June

  The Practical Application of Blockchain in the Mobile Channel

  

  Three key use cases could dramatically improve rewards programs, user authentication, and supply-chain management. Blockchain is a changing business model for the banking industry, supporting the sharing of value between and among multiple companies to their mutual benefit. While the industry may be enamored of developments on the crypto­currency front, …

January, 2018

• 2 January

  P2P And Beyond

  

  Suddenly, person-to-person payments services are gaining utility beyond just paying a person via a smart phone. What gives? So you thought these newfangled person-to-person payment services were meant only to replace cash with smart-phone apps that enable individuals to send and receive money electronically? Think again. All of a sudden, …

December, 2017

• 1 December

  Virtual Reality

  

  Digital versions are steadily increasing their share of the gift card market. Could they breathe new life into mobile wallets? If the standard knock on gift cards is that they’re too easy, too quick, too thoughtless with respect to the recipient, then the same could go double for digital cards. …

October, 2017

• 1 October

  What Price Honor?

  

  Merchants say a policy from the card networks short-circuits their choice in the digital wallets they accept and stifles innovation. Honor-all-cards, meet honor-all-wallets. Mention the card companies’ honor-all-wallets (sometimes also referred to as honor-all-devices) policy to a merchant and his blood pressure is sure to spike. Honor-all-wallets rules require card-accepting …

July, 2017

• 1 July

  Alive And Starting To Kick

  As they rapidly evolve, biometric technologies are certain to play a greater role in payment authentication. But, given consumer acceptance and other issues, just how big this role will be is up for debate. With most new developments in payments, there’s a whole lot of talk before any discernible action. …

June, 2017

• 1 June

  A Token of Appreciation

  

  Visa and Mastercard are acting fast to dominate the rapidly developing tokenization business. Are juicy fees next? It’s been more than six months since Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. announced reciprocal access to one another’s tokenization engines. Pacts giving PayPal Holdings Inc. such access have emerged over the same period …