Dubai, UAE; June 30, 2013: Aramex (DFM: ARMX), the global logistics and transportation solutions provider, announced today that it has achieved merchant level 3 compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a set of guidelines designed to protect cardholder data from exposure, loss or theft.
This move is in line with the company’s ongoing focus on e-commerce development as part of its overall strategy to expand its offering to the growing e-commerce industry locally and in growth markets around the world. Aramex’s recent offerings and upgrades to its e-commerce infrastructure include technological enhancements, advanced tracking systems and a growing suite of value-added services for merchants and customers in key markets in the Middle East and Africa.
The PCI DSS, developed by the founding payment brands – American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa Inc – of the PCI Security Standards Council, helps facilitate the broad global adoption of consistent data security.
Aramex underwent a comprehensive third-party assessment to comply with one of most stringent industry-recognized payment-card security standards available today to further secure its online credit card transactions, which have grown more than 20 times in volume in the last two years, due to the fact that Aramex lets customers settle shipping charges, duties and subscriptions payments online, through its multiple e-payment solutions offered on aramex.com and shopandship.com.
“Offering the most secure online payment environment we possibly can is a crucial aspect of our business considering we store tens of thousands of customer records and process more transactions each year. Accomplishing this important milestone of a globally recognized standard demonstrates Aramex’s commitment to safeguarding its clients’ and customers’ sensitive data. Moreover, we view this PCI security standard compliance as part of our strategy to further support ecommerce in the region, by reassuring our customers and our B2B clientele alike, that we continue to invest in fortifying our technological platform,” said Samer Awajan, Chief Technology Officer at Aramex.
Dr. Ramzi Sunna from RandomStorm, the advanced security management and compliance solutions leader in UK and the Middle East, which facilitated Aramex’s PCI DSS compliance said: “Aramex has taken the right measures to ensure they have the most stringent policies, processes and controls in place to protect cardholder data and we are happy to have helped them achieve the PCI DSS compliance, demonstrating to their customers that they are dealing with a merchant they can fully trust.”
In recent years, customers have become increasingly more confident with online credit card transactions and online retail sales in the region in 2011, according to Visa, were valued at more than $3.5 billion with around 77 million online shoppers. Aramex has been instrumental in increasing credit card penetration in the region, not only through its own Shop and Ship service that allows customers to make online purchases from the US, UK, China and Dubai, but also through its various bespoke e-services including Atlantic Plus, that support e-commerce companies and online merchants.