WASHINGTON — CUNA executives said the association will bebriefed today on a settlement from MasterCard that will bringMasterCard issuers who suffered losses in the companies card datasecurity breach a share of roughly $24 million from the retailer tocompensate them for their losses.

Issuers who wish to participate, including credit unions, willforfeit the right to further litigate for breach losses but willget a settlement much more quickly. In this regard it resembles asimilar settlement offer which was made and accepted by Visa Inc.earlier this year.

“This agreement reflects MasterCard's continuing commitment toworking with merchants and our customers to reach appropriate andfair resolutions of data breach events,” said Joshua Peirez, chiefpayment system integrity officer for MasterCard Worldwide. “Webelieve that by working closely and cooperatively with issuers andmerchants we can reduce the overall impact and costs of securitybreaches, while protecting consumers and accelerating fair andequitable resolutions of claims.”

Under the terms of the agreement, MasterCard card issuers thatfiled claims for operational expenses related to accountsdesignated by MasterCard in alerts to issuers or for reimbursementof fraud losses on such accounts used at TJX stores during timeperiods identified by MasterCard will be eligible to receivefinancial restitution in the second quarter or 2008, provided theychoose to participate in the optional program, the card brandsaid.