Network rules

MasterCard released new standards that require companies that use payroll cards to provide educational resources, increased fee transparency and allow free access account information.

A new company has formed to tackle the pressing issue of routing EMV debit transactions in compliance with federal mandates, a task the payments industry has undertaken for nearly two years.

DB Networks has joined the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council.

The Fed's vision of a vastly improved payments system within 10 years is getting a chilly reception from a group representing the nation's largest banks.

Fraud prevention provider ValidSoft has joined the Fast Identity Online Alliance to help create standards for online authentication, the company announced Dec. 3.

Banks in Hong Kong have established standards for the creation of a Near Field Communication-based mobile payment infrastructure in the region.

More small merchants are starting to comply with the Payment Card Industry security standards, which describe how to protect card data, but many merchants still do not have an incident response plan in case of a data breach.

Merchants and payment vendors who never change the default password in sensitive systems are getting fresh attention from the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.

More independent sales organizations are using fees to force merchants to take Payment Card Industry security standard compliance seriously.

Verizon Communication Inc. will operate as an approved Qualified Security Assessor for certifying client's payment networks for the Payment Card Industry data security standards.

The migration to EMV cards in the United States remains complicated by the unresolved legal issues surrounding the Durbin Amendment's implementation.

Security can be an expensive, time-consuming investment for small merchants, and most have a mindset that security hacks won't happen to them. But independent sales organizations must take an active role in protecting even the merchants that don't want to be protected.

The only way for the payments industry to thwart future hackers is to create a system that can adapt quickly to unanticipated threats – but many companies still struggle with the costs of handling their basic security needs.

Because third-party processors are on the hook for losses from fraudulent transactions, they have as much interest in eliminating bad actors as anyone.

The PCI council continues to expand its reach, with the intent of remaining a strong guide for data security well into the future.

The antitrust complaint against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. will continue, prolonging the eight-year battle, after both proponents and defendants were heard during the fairness hearing Sept. 12.

As more financial institutions and other companies turn to cloud-based services to maintain customer contact centers, Echopass Corp. says it has strengthened its position to assure data handled in those centers remains secure.

The ATM Acquirers Alliance is restructuring its organization to accommodate new industry segments and payments technology and has changed its name to Integrated Payments Alliance.

Banks can do business with Internet-based lenders that don’t violate the law, the nation’s primary payment system said in a letter that followed warnings from regulators about the online firms’ practices.

Lawyers for clothing retailer Genesco Inc. last week requested summary judgment on its request to dismiss $10,000 in data breach fines from Visa Inc.