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Industry News
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VISA Unveils New PA-DSS Guide |
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Visa has unveiled a set of security best practices for vendors of payment applications and for the systems integrators and resellers responsible for implementing and managing them.
The guidelines are designed to address continuing vulnerabilities in the payment chain stemming from insecure implementations of the applications that are used in credit and debit card transactions, according to Eduardo Perez, Visa's head of global payment system security.
The existing Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) administered by the PCI Security Council , already requires developers of payment applications to implement specific security controls in their software. But Visa said several vulnerabilities continue to persist because of improper configurations and other implementation errors. Visa's guidelines were developed in collaboration with the SANS Institute, a Bethesda, Md.-based security training and certification organization. The best practices touch upon 10 different issues and include a mix of technology and process-related advice.
In the past, several of Visa's best practices and guidelines have ended up being drafted into formal payment industry standard. Even the PA-DSS itself for instance, was originally proposed by Visa as a set of best practices, but eventually became a formal PCI standard.
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Fed Says Consumer Debt Still Falling |
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A report issued this week by the New York Federal Reserve Bank says aggregate consumer debt declined again in the second quarter of this year, continuing the trend of the previous six quarters. As of June 30, 2010, total consumer indebtedness was $11.7 trillion, a reduction of $812 billion (6.5%) from its peak level at the close of the third quarter in 2008, and $178 billion (1.5%) below its March 31, 2010 level.
The overall drop in consumer debt was driven by the continuing decline in credit card usage, which shows up as further drops in both credit card debt and the number of active card accounts. Excluding mortgage and HELOC balances, consumer indebtedness fell 1.5% in the quarter and, after having fallen for six consecutive quarters, stands at $2.31 trillion, 8.4% below its 2008 peak. About 272 million credit accounts were closed during the four quarters that ended June 30, while 161 million accounts were opened. However, the number of credit account inquiries within six months – an indicator of consumer credit demand –ticked up for the first time since the third quarter of 2007. Credit cards have been the primary source of the reductions in accounts over the past two years, and during the second quarter of 2010, the number of open credit card accounts fell from 385 to 381 million. The number of open credit card accounts on June 30 was down 23.2% from the 2008 peak, the report said.
Read the full report.
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RBS Worldpay Sale Announced |
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) says it has agreed to sell a controlling 80% interest in its Global Merchant Services (GMS) business to a consortium of Advent International and Bain Capital for roughly $3 billion. RBS will hold a minority stake in the new GMS group of 20%. As part of the agreement, RBS will continue to promote and refer the GMS product suite as a valuable part of its offering to customers.
Advent International and Bain Capital have committed to making substantial investments in the technology platform and the product offering. There will be transitional services agreements in place to cover the period from legal completion to final separation.
The sale is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2010 and is subject to certain conditions including approval by the European Commission, US anti-trust authorities and other regulators. |
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MasterCard-Backed Study: Prepaid Opportunity To Triple by 2017 |
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 A study by The Boston Consulting Group commissioned by MasterCard says the total value of the branded prepaid card opportunity in the United States may tops $440 billion by 2017, nearly quadrupling its estimated value of $120.2 billion in 2009. Future branded prepaid growth will be driven primarily by increases in the public sector and corporate payroll segments, the study added. Healthcare and general use branded prepaid segments will also continue to see steady expansion.
"As the study findings demonstrate, there's significant growth potential for prepaid in the U.S. and MasterCard is committed to aggressively resourcing the opportunity to expand our prepaid footprint both in the U.S. and worldwide," said Laura Kelly, Group Executive, Global Prepaid Solutions, MasterCard Worldwide. "Having successfully launched several of the world's largest prepaid programs, MasterCard is leading the way in prepaid innovation as the network of choice for organizations looking to enter or expand their prepaid programs. We commissioned this study to assess the true segment potential and identify key industry growth drivers to help MasterCard and our partners better understand and optimize the opportunity before us." |
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Read more...
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VISA to go Easy on Non-Compliant Merchants — For Now |
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 Two key deadlines for merchants accepting VISA cards passed last week (July 1), accompanied by a statement from the card company saying it would "not take a punitive approach" against those who haven't been able to meet the deadlines. Acquirers were required to make sure their merchants use point-of-sale software that meets the Payment Application Data Security Standard and that any PIN pads connected to Visa Inc.’s network use triple DES encryption technology.
The PA-DSS compliance program at VISA began in 2007. The requirement applies to software that runs on multifunction point of sale systems frequently used in restaurants and other specialty merchants.
MasterCard Worldwide has set a July 1, 2012, global deadline for PA-DSS compliance for its merchants.
While VISA said it would work with acquirers, merchant banks and processors to assist merchants who, in good faith, haven't been able to meet the compliance deadline, it also noted that the lenient policy won't apply to those who purposely ignore the requirement.
Visa’s will take the same approach to merchants who cannot meet the deadline for triple DES encryption of PIN pads. |
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