Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., the world's largest payments
networks, said Friday they are forming a new group to speed up the
adoption of technology aimed at improving credit- and debit-card
security in the wake of several high-profile data breaches.
The companies said that the new group will include banks, credit
unions, merchant processors, makers of payment terminals and
industry trade associations. The group initially will focus on the
adoption of technology that stores card data inside of a chip
embedded in the credit card rather than on a magnetic strip.
Efforts to ratchet up the security of the U.S. payments systems
has taken on added importance in recent months following breaches
involving retailers including Target Corp. and Neiman Marcus Group
Inc. that exposed millions of consumers' credit- and debit-card
information.
The events have also reignited bickering between retailers and
financial institutions, who have accused each other of dragging
their feet on adopting technology that could limit the impact of
data breaches.
"Only through industry collaboration and cooperation will we
address the real and immediate issue of security," Chris McWilton,
president of North American Markets for MasterCard, said in a
statement.
Both MasterCard and Visa have set an October 2015 deadline for
retailers to adopt the chip technology, known as EMV. Some banks
have already begun issuing credit cards to their customers that
contain such chips, focusing on consumers who travel frequently
overseas, where the technology is common. Few merchants in the U.S.
have upgraded their payment terminals in order to accept such
cards, though.
Last month, numerous trade groups, including the American
Bankers Association, Retail Industry Leaders Association and
National Grocers Association, announced they were partnering to
share information about cybersecurity threats.
Write to Andrew R. Johnson at andrewr.johnson@wsj.com
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