40 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 PRODUCTS & SERVICES PROFILE Experience is a commodity. Regardless of industry, location or size of a venture, the ability to say, “I’ve seen something like this before,” can be invaluable. As a Preferred Service Provider of the Indiana Bankers Association, Approval Payment Solutions Inc. (APS) has experience to spare when it comes to agent bank relations. It double-downs with that experience, offering its team of salaried sales representatives, paired with powerful in-house training totaling over 100 hours of education each year. As an Indiana-owned, Hoosier-operated nonbank entity, APS is in a unique position to apply its experience to help build agent banks’ business. These bank partnerships have helped APS grow to be one of the top 55 processors in the country, with over $2 billion in annual processing and 15 years of recognition in agent bank relations. In payment processing, technology has evolved at a lightning pace. Money has loosened itself from corporeal form, launching into higher planes of banking, financial markets and the almighty ledger. As the value of these datasets increases, so has the opportunity for an errant mark or line of code to disrupt or steal vast sums of money without physical interaction. For criminals, the days of stagecoach robbery are over. Digital thieves’ heists take place from the comfort of their homes. This new generation of criminal sophistication brings a need for financial diligence. As we continue to move away from physical currency (and physical ledgers), consumers’ financial security has moved from tellers and guarded safes to pockets and passcodes. With the power to access our financial lives via mobile and card-based payment options, consumers’ financial well-being is a swipe or login away from theft, fraud and ruin. The frontline defense for physical cards today is the EMV chip. Replacing the aging magnetic stripe system is a lofty goal, but one that seems to be slowly taking shape. With the October 2015 deadline for merchant compliance and shift of liability now over a year past, both non-EMV-enabled and PCI-noncompliant merchants are feeling increasing pressure to secure their systems and transactions. For many merchants, however, security, compliance and liability have yet to become top priority. APS has been a leader throughout its footprint in ensuring merchant security, with over 90 percent of its merchants fully EMV-enabled and over 75 percent PCI-compliant; its team continues to work diligently toward a fully secured portfolio. Compared to industry estimates, placing merchants at 56 percent EMV-implementation and less than a quarter at minimum PCI-compliance, APS prides itself on maintaining the leading edge in merchant security. While EMV has secured terminal and physical POS transactions at a higher level, its arrival has brought on a surge in traditional card security fraud. The knowledge that a highly profitable fraud source was coming to an end lit a new fire under criminals, prompting waves of identity theft, database hacking for mag stripe data, and using stolen or counterfeit physical cards at as many retailers as possible before the technology reaches obsolescence. This renewed criminal vigor has made PCI-compliance and EMV-implementation a top priority among processors. When the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council began pushing advanced security standards a decade ago, retailers were slow to comply, or outright ignored them. Simply accepting plastic or electronic payment remained a point of contention for many merchants, who saw it as a hassle and an overall loss via transaction fees and terminal leases. Similarly, as digital security has become more important, businesses are slow to properly secure their systems, becoming ripe targets for enterprising criminals. APS strives to ensure its clients are prepared for today’s viciously creative criminal environment, and it hopes its bank partners will do the same. APS is continually in search of financial institution partners focused on their merchants’ security, serving as voices of reason for the wellbeing of customers. Value for Banks Security for merchants Article author Joel Benson Marketing Specialist & Graphic Designer Approval Payment Solutions Inc. jbenson@apsolutions.net Approval Payment Solutions Inc. is a Preferred Service Provider of the Indiana Bankers Association.
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