The 160-member task force convened by the Federal Reserve to advance the safety, security and resiliency of the national payment system is asking the industry for comments on its efforts to enhance payment identity management, data protection, and information sharing related to payments risk and fraud.
The Secure Payments Task Force has been working across payment industry segments to define challenges and develop potential solutions. An online survey Leaving the Board has been created to gather comments on how the task force is addressing challenges related to the three focus areas. The goal is to help ensure that the solutions being pursued will meet industry needs. The survey will be open for comment through Tuesday, November 8.
"Tackling today's security challenges will require the commitment of all payment system participants," said Gordon Werkema, who, as Payments Strategy Director for the Federal Reserve System, is overseeing initiatives to make the national payment system faster and more secure. "The Secure Payments Task Force is particularly interested in understanding any barriers that may exist to implementing the planned solutions."
The work groups created by the Secure Payments Task Force to focus on the three priority areas are led by payment industry experts:
- Nancy O'Malley, Executive Vice President, Mastercard, who heads the Payment Identity Management Work Group.
- Reed Luhtanen, Senior Director Payments Strategy, Walmart, who heads the Data Protection Work Group.
- Glen Ulrich, Operations Executive, US Bank, who heads the Information Sharing Work Group.
For each of these focus areas, work group members have been meeting to document the current environment, the attributes of a more effective environment, the desired outcomes in each area, and the barriers to implementation of recommended solutions. A team of standards experts was established to support the work groups.
Todd Aadland, the Federal Reserve's Payments Security Strategy Leader, chairs the Secure Payments Task Force and stressed the importance of industry participants sharing their opinions as the effort moves forward.
"Payment security issues such as data breaches and identity theft affect everyone," Aadland said. "We encourage people who are knowledgeable about or interested in payment security to take the survey and share their thoughts."