Overview#
Payment Card Industry (Payment Networks) consists of all the organizations which store, process and transmit cardholder Data, most notably for debit cards and credit cards.The security standards are developed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council which develops the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards used throughout the industry.
Individual Payment Networks establish compliance requirements that are used by service providers and have their own compliance programs.
Major card brands include:
- American Express
- Discover Financial Services
- Japan Credit Bureau (JCB)
- MasterCard Worldwide
- VISA International
Most companies use member banks (Card Issuers) that connect and accept transactions from the Payment Networks.
Not all Payment Networks use member banks, like American Express, these instead act as their own bank (Card Issuer).
