Kobie Marketing Receives PCI and SAS 7O Type II Certifications

St. Petersburg, FL (January 17, 2011) - Kobie Marketing, a loyalty marketing and customer retention agency, is pleased to announce that it received both PCI and SAS 70 Type II certifications in fall 2010. Kobie Marketing is the world’s most recognized provider of full-service loyalty marketing solutions and runs credit and debit card reward programs for several large banks in the United States and Canada. The company secures data for millions of credit and debit cardholders each year.

"Every day, Kobie processes and stores millions of transactions in both real-time and batch, from credit, debit and gift cards; open and closed loop POS systems; global processors and merchant acquirers. These certifications signify our company’s maturity in data and process management on behalf of our clients, the integrity of their customer data, and the sophistication of our client engagements," said Michael Hemsey, President of Kobie Marketing.

The PCI Security Standards Council is an independent body formed by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa International to develop, enhance, disseminate and assist with implementation of security standards for payment account security. To earn the PCI certification, Kobie proved its customers’ personal data are secure and its IT Operations maintain the highest security standards in the financial and loyalty marketing industries.

SAS 70 is the international standard and demonstrates that service providers have adequate safeguards when they host or process their customers’ data. By earning the SAS 70 Type II certification, Kobie demonstrated appropriate internal controls are being met for the following activities: Physical Security, Environmental Protection, Computer Operations, Information Security, Application Change Control, Data Communications, Order Processing, Invoicing, Call Center Services, and Inventory Control.

“Kobie’s management team understands the increasing importance of corporate governance and data security, as well as the impact of its services on our clients’ systems of internal controls,” said John Hoelker, Vice President of Loyalty Operations at Kobie Marketing. “The successful completions of the PCI and SAS 70 Type II audits are only part of Kobie Marketing’s continued commitment to maintain a high level of protection for our clients and their customers’ personal data.”

Please contact John Hoelker, Vice President of Loyalty Operations, for more information about Kobie Marketing’s PCI and SAS 70 Type II certifications.

About SAS 70

Established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, SAS 70 is a widely recognized auditing standard for service organizations to demonstrate they have adequate controls and processes in place. A SAS 70 examination demonstrates that an independent accounting and auditing firm has reviewed and examined an organization’s control objectives and activities. At the conclusion of the examination, a formal report including the auditor’s opinion is issued to the examined organization.

About PCI

The mission of the PCI Security Standards Council is to enhance payment account security by fostering broad adoption of the PCI Data Security Standard and other standards that increase payment data security.

The PCI Security Standards Council was formed by the major payment card brands to provide a transparent forum for stakeholders to provide input into the ongoing development, enhancement and dissemination of the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS), PIN Entry Devise (PED) Security Requirements and the Payment Applications Data Security Standard (PA-DSS). Merchants, banks, processors and point of sale vendors are encouraged to join as Participating Organizations.