The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council is expanding its role to the Middle East as the volume of card-based payments continues to grow in the region, and with it, payment card fraud. I am planning.
In April, PCI SSC appointed a regional director for the Middle East to work with regulators, banks and financial institutions, and service providers to improve the security of card transactions. The move comes as global card fraud is expected to reach $36 billion by 2024, up from $28 billion in 2020, although the share of fraud as a percentage of transaction value will decline slightly. That would be 6.5 cents per $100. Annual “Nilsson Report” released in December.
PCI SSC will focus on security and work closely with all organizations that handle payments within the Middle East payments ecosystem, said Nitin Bhatnagar, regional director for India and South Asia, PCI Security Standards Council. Says. He will be working in the Middle East in the future.
“Cyber attacks and data breaches in payment infrastructure are a global problem,” he says. “Threats such as malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks continue to increase the risk of security breaches. Collectively, we need to think differently.”
The move comes as the payments industry itself faces major changes, including the proliferation of alternatives to traditional payment cards and an increase in financial fraud in the Middle East.
According to , the payments industry is likely to grow at an annual rate of 6.2% through 2027, which is a healthy pace, although lower than the 8.3% growth rate over the past five years. September 2023 Report Published by Boston Consulting Group. While card-based financial transactions remain mainstream, with POS and e-commerce transactions valued at over $30 trillion in 2023, alternative payment methods are also becoming more prevalent, with a total value of over $11 trillion expected in 2023. According to BCG's Global Payments Model, the proportion of card-based payments is growing at twice the rate.
According to BCG, there are currently more than 5,000 fintech companies around the world with revenues of $100 billion, and this number is expected to increase to $520 billion by 2030.
Digital wallet instead of plastic card
The Middle East is one of the regions where this change is most evident. According to , consumers in the Middle East prefer digital wallets over cards as their most preferred payment method (60% to 27%), while consumers in Asia Pacific slightly prefer cards (43% to 38%) . August 2021 report by consultancy McKinsey & Company.
cyber criminal Also follow these shifts, and that worries businesses in the area. For example, seven in 10 business leaders in the United Arab Emirates believe the risk of financial crime will worsen over the next 12 months, about the same as business leaders in the United States.2023 Fraud and Financial Crime Report” published by the consulting firm Kroll.
The PCI Security Standards Council plans to adapt to the digital environment and introduced a mobile payments standard in November 2022. PCI Mobile Payments (MPoC) in COTSprovides standards for the development of mobile app-based payments.
“Emerging technologies and innovations are reshaping our industry, along with the growing popularity of mobile payments and contactless transactions,” Bhatnagar said. “Organizations need to be aware of security risks and take them seriously, because criminals take security risks seriously. Their only goal is to infiltrate an organization, steal data, and monetize it. That’s it.”
Cybersecurity education and technology
Preventing payment fraud has become a priority in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, as efforts to improve financial inclusion increase the adoption of mobile payments and digital bank accounts.
For example, the open source Tazama project is: Building a fraud prevention platform for banks and governments We use data about account owners and transactions to help us detect potential fraud. Meanwhile, Network International, a digital commerce platform in the Middle East and Africa, Adopting Mastercard's AI-based fraud prevention solution To reduce fraud in digital transactions.
“Organizations need to start prioritizing data security as a key element in their daily business activities,” says Bhatnagar. “Investing in cybersecurity is equally important. Training employees and improving cyber hygiene can help organizations move in the right direction.”
Technologies like generative AI can either help or hurt payment security. Cybercriminals are increasingly using this technology to separate cash from consumers, and businesses can use it to catch more fraud schemes. According to consultancy Kroll, two-thirds (64%) of executives now plan to invest in anti-fraud technology, and more than half (56%) will increase their cybersecurity budget to address risk. He says he is making plans.
