In a press release issued yesterday, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) expressed "shock and outrage" over a letter sent Tuesday by the National Retail Federation (NRF) to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner, it felt placed blame on bankers for the recent data breaches at Target and Neiman Marcus.
Matthew Shay, president and CEO of NRF, wrote, "When it comes to the most criminally lucrative data—sensitive bank card information—our partners in the financial sector have a critical role to play in making sure their cards are secure. For years, banks have continued to issue fraud-prone magnetic stripe cards to U.S. customers, putting sensitive financial information at risk while simultaneously touting the security benefits of next generation 'PIN and Chip' card technology for customers in Europe and dozens of other markets."
Camden Fine, president and CEO of ICBA, put the blame back on retailers and their processors.
"Nearly every retailer security breach in recent memory has revealed some violation of industry security agreements. In some cases, retailers haven't even had technology in place to alert them to the breach intrusion, and third parties, like banks, have had to notify the retailers that their information has been compromised," Mr. Fine said in a statement. "Further, even card security controls such as chip and PIN technology would not have prevented the breach of personal information of more than 70 million U.S. consumers. Retailers must step up to the responsibility that comes with handling personal information of consumers."