As a sign of the increasingly competitive and quixotic landscape of the payments industry, online auction site eBay Inc. said Sept. 30, 2014, it will spin off its payments subsidiary PayPal Inc. in the second half of 2015. EBay's decision to unbridle PayPal from its parent company comes as the payments landscape becomes ever more crowded, with Apple Inc.'s foray into mobile payments with Apple Pay and the recent record breaking initial public offering (IPO) of China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

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The launch of Apple Inc.'s near field communication (NFC) -capable mobile payment scheme, Apple Pay, in conjunction with the debut of the iPhone 6, has been hailed as the future of contactless, in-store payments. But Jared Isaacman, Chief Executive Officer at merchant services firm Harbortouch, said Apple Pay will go well beyond NFC in transforming the consumer's in-store payments experience.

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Green Dot Corp. added a checking account feature to its popular GoBank alternative banking service. Green Dot said its new low-fee checking account is designed to help consumers more easily manage their finances without incurring costly overdraft fees that come with traditional checking/debit accounts. Green Dot cited research that said consumers typically pay approximately $218 to $314 per year for a basic checking account. GoBank is available for purchase at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlets as a starter pack that comes with a temporary MasterCard Worldwide-branded prepaid debit card.

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With Apple Inc.'s launch of its own near field communication (NFC)-based mobile wallet scheme, Apple Pay, the m-wallet ecosystem all of a sudden looks brighter. On the heels of Apple's Sept. 9, 2014, announcement, national retailers made news concerning mobile payment implementations, underscoring how mobile is transforming the retail environment. Department store operator Macy's Inc. and quick service restaurant (QSR) chain Subway recognize that mobile payments and other mobile-based applications are impacting the retail experience.

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which operates the largest overall e-commerce presence in the world, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 19, 2014, with an over two-hour delay in its initial public offering caused by a repeated upward revision of the stock's price per share. With Alibaba's shares now trading at well over 30 percent higher than initially set, a strong new competitor has emerged with designs on disrupting the U.S. e-commerce marketplace. Alibaba was initially priced at $68, but excitement for China's e-commerce giant resulted in the share price opening at $92.70.

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Banks and credit unions are apparently still having problems communicating effectively with millennial generation consumers, which presents more opportunities for prepaid card providers to win over those younger consumer groups. New research from the multinational banking conglomerate BNY Mellon, in association with the University of Oxford, found that millennial consumers (individuals from about 18 to 34 years old) are much more likely to seek financial advice from parents than from financial institutions.

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The proliferation of data breaches at major U.S. retailers is a direct result of poorly coded software, according to a software analysis and measurement firm. The global data analytics firm, CAST, said seven out of 10 retail and finance applications are vulnerable to the Heartbleed-style malware attacks that have caused havoc among U.S. retailers nationwide in recent months. CAST revealed in its 2014 CAST Report on Application Software Health (CRASH) that financial and retail industry applications are the most vulnerable to data breaches, with 70 percent of retail and 69 percent of financial services applications having "data input validation violations" that can lead to breaches.

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Apple Inc. is known for setting trends, if not defining whole new market categories, as represented by the iPhone and iPad. But now, with the Sept. 9, 2014, launch of the iPhone 6, and Apple's first foray into the wearable device market with the Apple Watch, the tech giant has come out with a mobile contactless payment system called Apple Pay that could potentially set the standard for mobile security for the entire marketplace. By defining the security standard that wary consumers buy in to, the market for mobile contactless payments at the POS may finally take off.

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According to researcher Packaged Facts, U.S. prepaid cardholders are among the top users of mobile payments. This synergy between prepaid and mobile is reportedly being driven by young, tech savvy consumers who use prepaid cards and smartphones in equal measure.

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Apple Inc. made a big splash Sept. 9, 2014, when it announced Apple Pay, its near field communication (NFC)-powered mobile wallet, will be available on the soon-to-be-released iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch. Some analysts have weighed in, stating not only is this the death knell for plastic payment cards, it is also the birth of a behemoth that could knock out competing mobile payment schemes vying for market dominance. One such competitor is Merchant Customer Exchange, a mobile wallet being developed by leading retailers. Of all the high profile mobile wallet developers, MCX has been the most secretive.

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In the area of international remittances (money transfers), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued final revisions to its controversial rules that govern the business practices of remittance transfer providers (RTPs). But in issuing the final rules, the CFPB granted a kind of reprieve to RTPs, such as banks and credit unions, by pushing back the compliance deadline for certain types of transactions to July 2020. The remittance rules, which went into effect in October 2013, require RTPs to disclose exchange rates, fees and taxes to consumers before consumers initiate international money transfers at the POS.

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Prepaid metering for utilities is a growing trend, as governments and power companies around the world have rolled out prepaid programs that have been shown to save on energy usage and make it easier for low-income consumers to keep the lights on. Now a World Bank study reports that the same benefits may be applicable for prepaid water delivery systems in Africa.

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The merchant cash advance alternative funding option for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) has been well documented. But ATM ISOs are SMBs, too, and yet not as much attention has been given to the alternative funding avenues available to them. Super G Funding LLC, which specializes in funding ISOs, devoted a white paper to the challenges and opportunities for ATM ISOs, also termed independent ATM deployers (IADs), in finding capital to grow their businesses.

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