About the MAG The Merchant Advisory Group is a cross-industry association of large merchants involved in the payments industry. The purpose of the MAG is to establish a collaborative relationship between all parties involved in the payments industry to drive positive change in payment acceptance. The MAG seeks partnership between merchants, acquirers, payment companies and banks in order to improve the payments process for everyone. The group also seeks to provide merchants and other companies the opportunity for networking, best practice sharing, and research. The MAG is active in participating in key industry events to ensure that the merchant voice is a part of critical and timely conversations. It is particularly rewarding that although the MAG has existed as an independent organization for only two years, we have been invited to key payments industry meetings as the only merchant representatives at the table. Here is a list of places where the MAG is serving to represent the merchant point of view. The MAG serves on the Board of Directors of two respected industry groups. X9 Standards Committee – X9 develops payments industry ANSI Standards and related guidance documents Secure Remote Payment Council – The SRPc is dedicated to the growth, development and market adoption of debit based internet eCommerce, emerging eCommerce payment types, and mobile channel payment methods that meet or exceed the security standards for pinned based card present payments. The MAG also participates at other levels in key payments industry groups. PCI Security Standards Council – Participating Organization Smart Card Alliance – The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology. The Alliance invests heavily in education on the appropriate uses of technology for identification, payment and other applications and strongly advocates the use of smart card technology in a way that protects privacy and enhances data security and integrity. The MAG has been invited to attend strategic invitation-only sessions with important payments related groups. PCI SSC Executive Committee – The MAG helped establish a private conversation between the PCI Executive Committee and key merchant groups such as the MAG, the NRF, NACS, and others. Federal Reserve Bank Roundtable session on Mobile Payments – ongoing meetings Retail Payments Data Security I’m already a member of other similar groups and attend other conferences. What is different about the MAG? There are many great organizations that address issues related to payments acceptance. The MAG is unique for the following reasons. MAG Members are from all different industries. Merchants have the unique opportunity to be exposed to similar issues being faced by their peers in other industry segments, and to share potential solutions. In addition, including merchants from different industries creates a significantly large payments transaction volume, with the goal of creating the largest merchant group in existence. The MAG addresses a broad range of issues. With no limitations in scope, the MAG addresses any issue that makes payments acceptance difficult for you and your business. The MAG is built on partnership. The relationship between merchants and other parties to the payments process is at times adversarial. The MAG seeks to bring all parties together at the same table to effectively address issues in a collaborative manner. The MAG seeks to aggressively help its Members improve performance. By providing training, surveys, studies and best practice information, the MAG helps you run your department in a more efficient and effective manner. This is your opportunity to be part of a group that is changing the landscape of the payments world. You can be a part of this exciting change as we seek to revolutionize the payments industry.