These standards are overseen by the PCI Security Standards Council, which touches the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. They are a global organization that maintains, evolves and promotes Payment Card Industry standards for the safety of cardholder data across the globe. The Council was founded in 2006 by American Express, Discover, JCB International, Mastercard and Visa Inc.  They share equally in ownership, governance, and execution of the Council’s work.