ATMIA Sets up New Group to Tackle Prepaid, Other Debit Card Issues

Card issuers' uncertainties surrounding such issues as prepaid debit, debit card fraud, and the future flow of interchange income have led a major ATM industry trade group to form a new organization to represent issuers' interests. The Debit Council of the ATM Industry Association held its first meeting today at an ATMIA conference in Miami to hear from interested attendees, encourage participation and membership, and begin framing issues for future discussion. The group has attracted about 50 organizations so far, including issuers, independent sales organizations, processors, and other vendors. Companies represented at the first meeting included Elan Financial Services, Fiserv EFT, MasterCard International, Palm Desert National Bank, and Livewire International Inc., operator of a network of ticketing kiosks. At this point, no membership fee is required to join, ATMIA organizers say. At the initial meeting, the group decided its first areas of focus should include the burgeoning market for stored-value cards, particularly gift cards and payroll cards. A. Lyle Elias, who as executive director of Value Payment Network, a Hurst, Texas-based consulting and software company, is serving as chairman of the new council, says prepaid cards are a hot subject with issuers just now, with many state and federal regulatory issues remaining unclear. The new group, he says, hopes to help steer regulators in ways that will be beneficial to issuers, while also outlining “best practices” operating guidelines for issuers. At the same time, the group during its meeting also decided to include near-term discussion of risk management and interchange pricing. It is important to the group that all forms of debit, including PIN and signature-based, be represented in the membership. “We don't want to be known as those prepaid guys,” says Elias. In the area of risk management, for example, Elias points to a dearth of fraud data on debit cards, a void he hopes the Debit Council will be able to help fill with research. Whle Elias avoids any numerical projections for membership, he says the group hopes to develop an international network of chapters, much as ATMIA has done over the past several years. “The goal is to be international,” he says, pointing to heavy debit card usage in many foreign markets. “We don't want this to be just a U.S. thing.”