ProPay, a US-based provider of merchant payment service, has formally launched ProtectPay, a fully encrypted payment card processing, transmission and repository service.

ProPay said that ProtectPay enables merchants with a complete end-to-end secure option for processing credit card payments in real time and/or the secure storage and use of encrypted credit card data for future transactions including repeat billing.

ProPay added that ProtectPay reduces or even eliminates the PCI compliance burdens for merchants, service providers and companies by providing a service to securely store, transmit and process the data. This allows merchants and service providers to free up critical time and resources that can therefore be used to build and expand their core businesses, according to ProPay.

Greg Pesci, executive vice president of business strategy at ProPay, said: With data breaches becoming increasingly commonplace, the security and protection provided by ProtectPay is essential. We applaud Visa’s efforts to educate merchants and service providers through ongoing training and the ‘Drop the Data’ campaign. We believe ProtectPay is directly aligned with this initiative, given that it enables merchants to never see or touch their customers’ sensitive data – even for refunds or repeat billing.