As a Participating Organization, Green Dot will play an active role in the standards setting process. Endorsed by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., the PCI Security Standards require merchants and service providers that store, process or transmit customer payment card data to adhere to information security controls and processes that ensure data protection.

"We look forward to playing an active role in shaping the security of the payment chain globally," said John Coffey, Chief Information Security Officer of Green Dot. "Green Dot has always made security a priority and see our membership in the PCI Security Standards Council as a way to further demonstrate our leadership in the industry as a company committed to implementing critical information security policies."

The Council relies on involvement of those across the payments processing chain to enhance payment data security globally while embracing new technologies as they are developed.

"In an era of increasingly sophisticated attacks on systems, adhering to the PCI DSS represents an entity's best protection against network security threats and data breaches," said Bob Russo, General Manager of the PCI Security Standards Council. "By joining as a Participating Organization, Green Dot is demonstrating its commitment to drive the security standards to higher levels of adoption and strength."