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she suggested. "If we want to stop ing 7.3 transactions a month compared with 5.5 transactions per month for us-
card fraud, we need a better way of ers of Google Pay and Apple Pay. Anita Solaman, director of Auriemma's Debit
authenticating users, and it should be Management Roundtable, said this difference may be attributed to Samsung's
one that's affordable, easy and safe," technology strategy. Unlike Apple Pay and Google Pay, which work only with
she added. NFC card readers, Samsung Pay also is compatible with the traditional card
readers most merchants already use.
Data security concerns still loom
Data breaches continue to dominate Mobile payments appear poised to gain ground, however, as more banks
the headlines, including the massive see the value in offering mobile options. Zelle, the person-to-person mobile
breach that exposed the personal payment app launched in 2017 by a consortium of banks, said it grew by more
information (including from credit than 73 percent this year, and in the 12 months ending on Sept. 30, it processed
cards and passports) for up to half a more than 375 million transactions valued at $106 billion.
billion customers of the giant hotel
chain Marriott International. The Fintechs also continue to enter the fray and appear to be gaining ground with
breach, revealed on Nov. 30, triggered regulators. In July, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S.
an outcry from lawmakers and calls Treasury Department agency that regulates commercial banks, said it was
for legislative remedies. opening its charter approval process to fintechs, and in September, the agency
gave a preliminary OK to Vario Money Inc. to open the nation's first mobile-
Among them, Senator Ron Wyden, only bank.
D-Ore., who announced he would
introduce legislation in January that "Companies that provide banking services in innovative ways deserve the
closely mirrors PSD2 requirements opportunity to pursue that business on a national scale as a federally chartered,
around data security. Wyden wants regulated bank," comptroller Joseph M. Otting said in publicizing the new
government fines for companies that charter application process.
fall short on securing customers data.
He and other House and Senate Dem- Patti Murphy is senior editor at The Green Sheet and president of ProScribes Inc. Follow her on
ocrats also have suggested executives Twitter @GS_PayMaven.
at breached companies should face
jail time.

News of the Marriott breach came on
the heels of a report from Verizon in-
dicating a downward trend in busi-
nesses compliance with the Payment
Card Industry (PCI) Data Security
Standard. According to Verizon's 2018
Payment Security Report, just 52.5 per-
cent of businesses achieved full com-
pliance with PCI DSS in 2017, down
from 55.4 percent in 2016. Verizon
found that among retailers 56.3 per-
cent were in full compliance; among
financial services firms just 47.9 per-
cent were fully compliant.
Fintechs and mobile

Mobile payments remain a nascent
trend as evidenced by several studies.
Auriemma Consulting, for example,
reported this year that mobile pay-
ments account for just 0.6 percent of
all debit card payments in the United
States.

According to Auriemma, Apple Pay is
the top choice among consumers who
use mobile wallets – 77 percent of mo-
bile POS transactions – but Samsung
Pay users are more engaged, averag-
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