TJX reaches $40m settlement with Visa over data breach
Framingham retailer TJX Cos. said this morning it has reached an agreement with payment card network Visa USA Inc. to fund up to $40.9 million for payments to certain banks following a massive breach of TJX's computer systems through last year.
Under the terms of the agreement, TJX, the parent of discount chains including TJ Maxx and Marshalls, said banks that issued Visa payment cards potentially affected by the computer breach could receive payments in return for agreeing not to sue or take other steps against TJX and banks such as Fifth Third Bancorp of Ohio that process its transactions.
Roughly 100 million credit- and debit-card accounts were compromised in the intrusion first disclosed in January, the largest in history.
Visa would also suspend certain fines, and TJX would agree "to serve as a spokesperson'' in support of new security standards, the company said.
Said TJX president and chief executive Carol Meyrowitz in a statment, "We believe this settlement agreement provides a fair resolution of these issues. ... At TJX, we have learned a great deal about the risks of cyber attacks and have responded aggressively to take our own security to even higher levels. We have also learned about the heightened security risks that exist across the entire US retail and banking industries as a result of today's high tech criminals. We believe that cooperative action is required by all banks, payment card companies and merchants to better protect customer payment card data, and we look forward to working together with Visa to further this goal.''
(By Ross Kerber, Globe staff)
