In response to President Obama's announcement Friday about a new initiative called “Buy Secure,” designed to motivate companies to implement safer payment methods, the National Retail Federation said it will work closely with merchants to strengthen data security.

Matthew Shay, president/CEO of NRF, was present for the White House announcement at a CFPB meeting Friday, the NRF said.

“We applaud the administration for taking proactive and positive steps by adopting PIN and chip technology for government-issued debit and credit cards, among other things, Shay said in a prepared statement.

“As the world's largest retail trade association, NRF continues to work with our members and other stakeholders on practical and comprehensive solutions that are less about process and more about progress toward how we collaboratively prevent and combat this criminal activity,” he added.

From insisting on PIN and chip cards to facilitating greater information sharing among retailers and others sectors, the NRF said it is committed to finding the right answers with the latest technologies to stop cyber thieves, Shay said.

“This is not an issue about large retail versus small, or global financial institutions versus community banks and credit unions, or the federal government versus municipalities,” he explained. “We all stand together in seeking solutions to prevent criminals from accessing personal financial data regarding our customers, investors and citizens through preventable data breaches.”

Retail is the nation's largest private sector employer, supporting one in four U.S. jobs or 42 million working Americans and contributes $2.6 trillion to annual GDP, NRF said.