WHIPPANY, NJ - The latest PCI compliance stats reveal small compliance improvements among Level 2 and Level 3 retailers, StorefrontBacktalk.com reports.
Through March, 92% of Level 2 retailers are now compliant, up one point from December 2011. Level 3 retailers also showed a one-point increase in compliance, up to 59%. For Level 1 retailers (those processing more than 6 million Visa transactions annually), compliance stood at 98%, unchanged from December.
Visa has yet to report compliance rates for Level 4 merchants, characterizing their efforts as "moderate."
The increase in Level 3 compliance was significant, especially in light of a 2.5% increase in the number of merchants surveyed; however, the number "is still far too low," commented StorefrontBacktalk, tempering its criticism with speculation that many of the retailers may have been upgraded recently from Level 4 status.
"It€™s often the most difficult to achieve compliance when you€™re dealing with more stringent requirements for the first time," StorefrontBacktalk said.