Smarter Compliance: How Reap Can Lighten Your PCI DSS Burden

If you operate in the card industry or are considering entering the card issuing space, chances are you've come across PCI DSS compliance.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards established to safeguard cardholder data and enhance the security of payment card transactions. It applies to all organisations involved in processing, storing, or transmitting payment card information, including merchants, service providers, financial institutions, and other entities within the payment card ecosystem.

Obtaining PCI DSS compliance is a complex and resource-intensive process that demands significant manpower, infrastructure, and other costs to meet the rigorous standards. However, at Reap, we’ve developed a solution that reduces the burden of PCI-compliance, allowing businesses to launch their card program successfully. Read this article to see how you can confidently launch your compliant card program without the hassle.

Why is PCI DSS certification important for card issuers?

Card issuers handle sensitive cardholder data, such as card names, numbers, CVV codes, and more, which can be exploited for theft and fraud.

PCI is crucial to ensure that those responsible for handling this data do so with great care to safeguard cardholders and their funds against any actions that may lead to financial losses.

PCI DSS requirements: Challenges & costs associated

Obtaining PCI compliance can be challenging and comes with significant following associated costs:

Cost of implementing policies and technologies

This can vary based on the size and efficiency of your team, taking anywhere from a few months to years. Key tasks and trainings for card issuers seeking PCI compliance include:

Security tools (Firewalls, Antivirus, Vulnerability scanning)
Security training (requires effort from the entire organisation)
Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT)

Annual renewal fee

The certification is not permanent and must be renewed annually, with associated fees.

Auditor fees

The amount paid to auditors depends on the number of transactions your company processes and is variable by the scale of the company.

To achieve PCI compliance, a company must demonstrate compliance with 12 specific requirements for protecting credit card information. For more detailed information about the certification process and the necessary requirements, please refer to this article: [PCI DSS: Everything You Need To Know]

Introducing Reap’s Secure Card Information Display Widget

Reap’s Secure Card Information Display Widget is a special tool developed by Reap, designed for our customers (i.e. Card Issuance API user) to take advantage of its capabilities. This tool creates a secure window (iframe) within your system, hosted by Reap, where you can securely display sensitive card information, such as the 16-digit card number, CVV, and expiration date.

By using this method, Reap's card issuing customers are relieved of the responsibility of storing, handling, or transmitting this sensitive data. Consequently, it reduces your burden of PCI compliance, enabling you to launch your card program with significantly fewer resources. This is because you no longer need to independently manage or process the data, as Reap assumes full responsibility for handling the sensitive information while ensuring our own PCI compliance.

Integrating the iframe from the Card Issuance API user is fairly straightforward. You simply need to access our endpoints to retrieve the iframe. However, if you wish to customise the user interface and enhance the user experience by adjusting the appearance or timing of pop-ups, the process may become more involved. Nevertheless, we facilitate style customisation within the iframe, making the process streamlined. The typical timeline for a basic implementation of this iframe is approximately 1-2 weeks.

Why use Reap’s Secure Card Information Display Widget

Data Security

You are relieved of data security and management risks. By directly integrating the iframe into your website, there is no need to store or transmit sensitive card data. Reap assumes complete responsibility for storing and displaying this information, ensuring the utmost security.

Time Saved

Significant time is saved by avoiding the validation process and the implementation of policies and technologies. One of Reap's clients reported saving nearly 60-70% of their time through this solution. As a result, you can quickly get up and running, seizing market opportunities swiftly and gaining a competitive edge in the industry.

Who is this suitable for?

Institutions with limited card issuance experience

You are new to the card issuance space and may not have a robust understanding of financial regulations and industry standards. You seek technical and legal expertise needed to meet these requirements, and want to avoid extra costs.

Institutions looking to get to market fast

This solution is ideal for institutions seeking a fast market entry. You prioritise efficiency and want to minimise the time it takes to establish your presence in the industry.

How does it work?

Watch our product demo:

Get started with Reap today

If you've been contemplating launching your own card program but have been deterred by the resource-intensive barrier of PCI DSS compliance, that hindrance can now be overcome.

With Reap's display widget, you can launch a PCI-compliant solution without the need to achieve PCI compliance yourself. Connect with our team to learn more.