Retail Industry Sends Letter on Card Security

Seven retail industry associations sent a letter pointing out what they view as the shortcomings in recent arguments made by the financial services community relating to card security and correcting what they termed "inaccuracies and misrepresentations" in a December statement from the Washington, D.C.-based Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA).

ICBA CEO John Buhrmaster's comments came in the wake of the Home Depot data breach, which occurred from April to September 2014. Buhrmaster said that the costs associated with such breaches should be borne by the party who experiences the breach -- in this case, Home Depot.

In their answering letter, the retailers emphasized the following points: Retailers incur more of the costs of data breaches than banks; more sharing of information between law enforcement and the business community, in addition to between retailers and financial institutions, is needed; and disregarding PIN technology leaves all entities concerned more vulnerable.

The letter, which can be read in its entirety online, was sent by the CEOs of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), the National Retail Federation (NRF), the National Grocers Association (NGA) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG).