International Payments Forum - About Thought Key

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About Us

ThoughtKey, Inc., founded in 2007, is an Atlanta-based consulting firm focused on providing compliance management for all participants in the payment industry. We have a combined 48 years of general business experience including 19 years in audit and another 13 years specific to regulatory and compliance in the payment industry.

Our company was founded based on a specialized and growing need in the payment industry. Most business people have limited time during the day to stay abreast of the latest regulatory and compliance requirements and/or emerging trends taking place in the payment industry outside of their core responsibilities. This limitation often stifles the ability to conduct a thoughtful analysis of key risk related matters and even less time to implement, leaving the company vulnerable to risk. We recognized the immediate need to address such vulnerabilities and the opportunity to do what we enjoy - provide "thoughtful analysis on key risks and assist in implementation".

Leveraging our knowledge, we developed a platform of services and products to assist our clients in minimizing their risk exposure associated with emerging industry mandates such as:

PCI Personal Identification Number (“PIN”)
PCI Data Security Standard (“DSS”)
PCI PIN Encryption Device (“PED”) and Encrypting Pin PAD (“EPP”)
Payment Application Data Security Standard (“PA DSS”)
Payment Industry Sponsorship Management
FACTA truncation and other banking regulations

Benefits

When should you engage ThoughtKey and what benefits should your organization expect?

We can develop a customized Strategic Compliance Management Program will provide a number of benefits to your organization.

Holistic and strategic compliance approach
Robust and sustainable compliance program implemented quickly
Assess and manage long term compliance headcount cost
Leverage PCI, PIN and other compliance experts’ knowledge as well as preferred vendor pricing
Customized or template policy and procedures
Marketing/service offering synergies for your clients

Your organization will begin to realize the benefits from the inception of our Program and easily maintain such benefits into the future.

Companies that meet any one of the situations noted in the table below will benefit from ThoughtKey services. The context of PCI refers to PCI DSS, PCI PIN, PCI PED, PCI EPP and PA DSS required programs.

Situation
“Your situation”

Benefit
“We provide for you”

Headcount limitations (existing and/or new)

	Resource(s) provided to prevent needing additional headcount thus minimizing permanent overhead costs
	Dedicated and professional project management
	Potential rebates to offset program costs

Limited or encumbered internal PCI (DSS, PIN, PED, and PA-DSS) and/or Third Party Agent expertise

	PIN Audits mandated by operating rules and regulations are completed on time by a certified PIN expert
	Immediate source of PCI and Agent knowledge – no “ramp up” period
	Eliminate staff workload burden and dilution
	Rapid project turnaround time
	Perform various portfolio analysis to define actionable steps
	Develop proper remediation steps and goals
	Navigate potential PCI remediation options
	Assess Agent risk and requirements

Desire to leverage expertise in developing customer portfolio PCI and PIN strategies

	PIN Audits mandated by operating rules and regulations are completed on time by a certified PIN expert
	Immediate source of PCI benchmarking statistics
	Develop an effective plan to achieve PCI compliance on time
	Evaluate effective PCI remediation options
	Immediate use of templates for portfolio communication including education and training
	Quick strategy execution
	Provide executive summary reports and dashboard statistics for PCI

Desire to be PCI compliant both internally and within your customer portfolio

	Professionals provide immediate assessment(s) and analysis then work to execute by the required timelines
	Leverage favorable vendor pricing, where needed, to achieve compliance
	Perform analysis to support business PCI strategy
	TG 3 and CTGA certified auditors perform high quality on-site PIN audits

Our Clients

ThoughtKey specializes in advising parties participating in the payment industry that look for support in mitigating risk, developing risk strategies and meeting the industry requirements. These parties include:

Independent Sales Organization – “ISO” (Merchant, Issuing, ATM’s)
Sponsoring Financial Institutions (Acquiring and Issuing)
Payment Processors (Issuing, Acquiring credit, debit, prepaid, etc.)
Third-Party Payment Providers (Service Providers)
Encryption Service Organization – “ESO”
Payment Vendors
Law Firms

Since its inception ThoughtKey has completed consulting engagements for nationally chartered financial service organizations with assets up to $400 million.

Our Promise

Our value proposition is to provide expertise and sincere collaboration with our clients resulting in delivery of clear results and mitigation of risk in daily operations allowing you the ability to focus on your other responsibilities. Our ambition is to become a highly valued and trusted advisor to companies and their executive teams all over the world.

ThoughtKey is committed and passionate about helping our clients succeed through exceptional value-added insights and recommendations. We encourage you to learn more about our company and services. Please contact us to discuss how we can partner with you.

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