Competitive Strategies

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday joined the mobile-payments race in earnest by announcing it is making near-field communication capability available on Microsoft Wallet for in-store transactions. The wallet works with Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. The new payments feature is limited for now to members of Microsoft’s Windows Insiders program “in …

• By the end of August American Express Co. will not hold merchants liable for counterfeit fraud chargebacks for transactions under $25 as part of its updated U.S. fraud policies for EMV chargebacks. By the end of 2016, AmEx plans to limit the number of counterfeit fraud chargebacks to 10 …

MintChip, a digital cash replacement, went live Tuesday with a handful of retailers and restaurants in a trendy Toronto neighborhood. Canadians anywhere also can use MintChip for peer-to-peer payments. A loyalty and payment-services startup called nanoPay Corp. bought MintChip, which was developed by the Royal Canadian Mint, early this year. …

• Banking and financial-services provider BNY Mellon announced its Treasury Services unit has introduced Tokenized Payments, a service that allows its clients to send real-time or next-day payments to consumers. The service relies on Early Warning Services LLC’s clearXchange network and allows payments using the recipient’s email address or mobile …

The number of consumers of all age groups who would or already use their phones to make purchases at the checkout increased to 40% this year, finds Bank of America Corp.’s “Trends in Consumer Mobility Report 2016,” released Tuesday. That’s up from 34% in 2015. Younger consumers—Millennials between 18 and …

There may be less ATM skimming going on than is commonly thought. Most ATMs placed in retail locations—93%—have not experienced a skimming incident, finds a survey from the National ATM Council Inc., which represents independent ATM operators. Skimming happens when a consumer inserts a credit or debit card into what …

Creating lifetime, brand-loyal customers who return to your online store with what we call “surprise and delight” is not as easy as it once was. The fact is, shoppers are not created equal. Some online shoppers are deal seekers. Hopping from site to site, these shoppers are easily lured away …

One of the biggest changeovers in the history of general-purpose credit cards is set for this weekend when warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. stops accepting American Express Co. cards and begins taking Visa Inc. cards. In an email to its customer-members this week, Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco said to “mark your …

American Express Co. made available Wednesday the AmEx Quick Chip program that enables a seemingly speedier EMV chip card transaction. Similar to what MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. recently announced, the AmEx program enables consumers to remove their AmEx chip cards from readers once the card has been verified instead …

• Merchant processor Square Inc. settled a lawsuit filed by a Washington University professor, Robert E. Morley, who said he invented Square’s card reader for smart phones. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Square set aside $50 million in the first quarter to cover legal expenses from the …