Retail Trade Groups Unite on Payments Initiative

The National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association, Food Marketing Institute, Merchant Advisory Group, National Association of Convenience Stores, National Grocers Association and National Restaurant Association are jointly calling for an open and universal tokenization standard in the U.S. payments system. The groups released a statement saying payment card data is currently vulnerable to theft where card information is swiped or entered, where card information is stored, and where it's transmitted. The group is calling for payment industry stakeholders to adopt tokenization — i.e., replacing sensitive account data and identity information with a unique token or symbol.