ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — PSCU Financial Services, the payments processing CUSO with over 500 credit union owners that use the First Data Corp. card platform, has joined the PCI Security Standards Council as a participating organization. As a participating organization, the cooperative will work with the Council to evolve the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) and other payment card data protection standards.

While other processing firms such as Fidelity National Information Systems are members, along with major retailers, PSCU said that it believes it is the only CUSO that is a member.

The PCI DSS, which the Council develops and works upon, is endorsed by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. It requires merchants and service providers that store, process or transmit customer payment card data to adhere to information security controls and processes that ensure data integrity.

As a participating organization, PSCU Financial Services will now have access to the latest payment card security standards from the Council, be able to provide feedback on the standards and become part of a growing community that now includes more than 320 organizations, PSCU said.