The U.S. rollout of EMV is just one chapter—albeit a major one—in an unfolding international payments story, but another one is taking the stage that could have important implications both for faster payments and cross-border transactions. SWIFT, the Belgium-based international financial-messaging organization, announced on Tuesday that 73 financial institutions worldwide …

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 …

• 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 …

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 …

• Noting that U.S. businesses send consumers write 3 billion paper checks annually, Wells Fargo & Co. said it will allow companies to send consumer payments electronically through a new service called Payment Manager B2P, expected to roll out early next year. The service will work with the clearXchange peer-to-peer …

• Visa Inc.’s Canadian unit posted an “open letter” in Canadian newspapers Thursday to protest Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s plan to stop accepting Visa cards in its 400 Canadian stores beginning July 18 because of allegedly high acceptance costs. “Wal-Mart has initiated a public flight—something we never wanted—as they are using …

The Home Depot Inc.’s new lawsuit against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. makes many of the same antitrust allegations that other merchants have lodged against the big networks in recent years. The suit, however, is notable for asking the court to quash Visa’s Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF) and, like …

• The Home Depot Inc. filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. for alleged lax security practices and a preference for higher-margin signature authentication with EMV chip credit cards over more secure PIN authentication, according to the Associated Press. A MasterCard spokesperson told the AP that …

Visa Inc. on Tuesday reported that gas stations using a service it introduced two years ago to prevent card fraud at fuel pumps has reduced counterfeit fraud by 54%. Visa says that more than 35,000 U.S. gas stations now use its Visa Transaction Advisor technology at the pump, and that …