This article is the first installment of a three-part series this week on what the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payment Initiative means to the payment economy in the U.S., and how the payments ecosystem might get to “yes” on fixing what’s broken and deploying what’s possible. This part deals with the …

Mobile-wallet provider OmnyPay Inc. is nearing the launch of its white-label service, which includes payments, loyalty, and offers, with a top 30 U.S. retailer. The debut is expected within the next few months. That’s the word from Mohammad Khan, OmnyPay president and cofounder, in an interview with Digital Transactions News. …

Funding activity for startups in the payments business continued at a hectic pace over the past six months—but the total dollars invested fell through the floor. There were 75 funding deals in the first quarter totaling $396 million, according to the latest data from CB Insights, a New York City-based …

It may have been a so-so year for initial public offerings in payments, but 2015 was a boffo year for private financing of payments startups. And early indications are that 2016 may be just as good. Through Nov. 10, there were 235 funding deals for payments companies worldwide, with investments …

Frustration with typing in a 16-digit payment card number on a smart-phone screen leads to a lot of lost sales for e-commerce merchants. It’s a problem that two payments companies, offering different products, say they can help with. Making its U.S. debut first is PayItSimple USA Inc., an installment-payment service. …

Transactional credit providers have been few and far between. Bill Me Later launched 14 years ago and was snapped up by eBay Inc. in 2008. BillFloat Inc. started up four years ago and has changed its name to Better Finance Inc. It’s a challenging business requiring close attention to funding costs and …

Mobile dominates this year’s Guide, as you’d expect, but so does the urge toward faster payments. Neither trend is going away any time soon. The obvious theme running through alternative payments nowadays is the predominance of mobile. Processors, solutions vendors, and startups alike are scrambling to make it possible to …

The Home Depot Inc. on Tuesday started rolling out a point-of-sale payment system that will let customers pay with their PayPal accounts at all of the home-improvement retailer’s almost 2,000 U.S. stores. The rollout comes just seven weeks after the two companies unveiled a five-store pilot in the San Francisco …

This is the fifth installment of a six-part series on how Web 2.0 is likely to transform the payments business. Prior articles focused on how new providers are leading the transition from the first generation of e-commerce, where a buyer had a one-way relationship with a seller's Web site and …

This is the fourth installment of a six-part series exploring the growing economic tensions and structural conflicts between acquirers and issuers in the bank card business. If you're a top-10 bank card issuer these days, the good times are looking increasingly tenuous; if you are one of the nation's 17,000 …