Network rules

Lost in the wave of shopping and payment innovation is just how remarkable the change has been--as little as 10 years ago, transaction options were pretty static and wristwatches were time-telling relics rather than futuristic vessels for shopping.

When it was created in 2006, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council was billed as an independent body to manage the data security standards process for the payments industry. It has been under fire from merchants ever since.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote to Visa on Tuesday to denounce an alleged new fee assessed by the company on credit and debit card issuers that see their business shift to a competing card network.

Merchants sued Visa and MasterCard in 1996 when the card networks forced them to "honor all cards," and though the suit settled in 2003, the wounds are reopening with the spread of mobile wallets.

The National Retail Federation wants the Federal Trade Commission to do more than merely check up on the companies that routinely assess merchants for compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

Visa's rules for card acceptance exceed 800 pages — plus supplements — and MasterCard's are nearly 300 pages. But even though the card networks have explained their expectations in painstaking detail, the difference between strict rules and mere guidelines is much blurrier when finally given to the merchant.

In the latest salvo in a long-running feud over the costs of processing payments, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sued Visa Inc.’s U.S. unit on Tuesday, saying the company wants the retailer to use a less-secure method for verifying debit cards in order to route transactions through its own networks to boost profits.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sued Visa Inc.’s U.S. unit, saying the company wants the retailer to use a less-secure method for verifying debit cards in order to route transactions through its own networks.

Dwolla has forwarded its proposal for faster payments to a Federal Reserve Board task force studying submissions as part of a national initiative, and its voice is one of several seeking to make a difference in the country's move to faster payments.

Many organizations handling payment card data do not have the technology in place to simplify the complex process of compiling quarterly testing results now required by the Payment Card Industry data security standards.

Multi-factor authentication will be required for administrative access to card data and systems for Payment Card Industry data security compliance this week.

A week after saying they were less than a year away from testing a real-time payments network in the U.S., The Clearing House and FIS have submitted a proposal about the system to the Federal Reserve's Faster Payments Task Force.

If merchants in the U.S. took a cue from their counterparts in Australia and began making consumers pay a surcharge for credit card transactions, it would attract more backlash than revenue.

Visa Inc. recently established a 12-year lifecycle for EMV chips in payment cards, and CPI Card Group is among the first card manufacturers to enact the new policy, eliminating the need for issuers to get EMV chips in Visa cards approved every three years.

The attention around tokenization — replacing static account numbers with a one-time-use token — has been good for security but worrying for businesses that rely on a static identifier for future reference.

As commerce gets increasingly global, the differences in payment security from country to country become more apparent.

As one of the most antagonistic lobbying battles in Washington escalates -- where financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and Visa are sparring with companies such as Walmart over credit card swipe fees -- a powerful ally is again sticking up for the retailers.

A Canadian lawmaker has introduced legislation to establish new ceilings for credit card interchange, and though it has the support of some retail groups, experts say the bill faces headwinds.

New requirements and guidance from the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council will be released to merchants in April, which is about six months earlier than its normal update cycle.

The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., named Sepideh Behram to the role of chief compliance officer.