The Financial Services Roundtable, Retail Industry Leaders Association and several other trade associations have mentioned that the new partnership would focus on sharing more information on cyber threats, developing technology to protect consumers and discussing areas of disagreement between banks and merchants.
The initiative has been taken after major data breaches at US retailers Target and Neiman Marcus, although banks and retail industry groups have been at odds for years over cyber issues.
Financial services groups want retailers to bear more of the costs of replacing cards after breaches occur. Retailers say banks have been slow to adopt new, more secure debit card technology.
Both sides are now under public pressure to respond to the data breaches. The trade associations would form working groups consisting of their experts, representatives from member companies and others. They will also focus on thefts that do not involve debit or credit cards and on how to protect mobile payments.
That growing use of mobile devices has actually held back some progress between banks and retail groups, according to experts. As electronic payments gain popularity, the incentive for either side to improve debit and credit card systems diminishes.
Card networks Visa and MasterCard have imposed a 2015 deadline to switch to new chip & PIN cards that are thought to be more secure than magnetic strip cards. But the shift is expensive and neither banks nor retailers want to take the first leap, especially since customers could move to mobile payments.
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