U.S. Senators Ask Federal Reserve to ‘Do More’

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Al Franken (D-MN) are urging the Fed to do more to protect American consumers from payment card fraud.

February 17, 2014

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Al Franken (D-MN) wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen, asking her and the Federal Reserve Board to enhance payment card security by providing oversight and enforcement of a fraud prevention law that Congress enacted in 2010. 

The letter follows a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the series of recent data breaches, which put consumers’ credit and debit card information at risk.

“We write today regarding the urgent need to enhance security in the U.S. payment card system and protect American consumers from fraud,” the Senators wrote.

“Recent data breaches demonstrate how shortcomings in card security are putting American consumers at unnecessary risk. While these breaches reveal security problems that extend beyond the payment system, fraud-prone U.S. payment card technology is a key vulnerability that must be addressed…Protecting American consumers from fraud is vital to the integrity of our payment system. All participants in the payment system — including merchants, networks, and issuers — must bear responsibility for making that system more secure. Congress has assigned the Board an important task in this effort to improve payment security. We look forward to a prompt response to the attached questions and to continuing to work with you to ensure that Congress’ goal of effective fraud prevention is carried out successfully.”

Meanwhile, the retail community is coming together to address cybersecurity. Last week NACS joined more than a dozen trade merchant and banking associations to explore ways to better secure financial transactions. The new cybersecurity partnership will focus on exploring paths to increased information sharing, better card security technology and maintaining consumer trust.

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