The payments industry's peak body, the Australian Payments Clearing Association, has become an affiliate member of the PCI Security Standards Council, a global payments body backed by the big card scheme operators.The Council introduced affiliate membership last year, and APCA is among the first group of organisations to be invited to take up membership. The others include France's Cartes Bancaires and Canada's Interac Association.The PCI Security Standards Association was set up by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB International and Discover Financial Services. It sets payment data security standards for 600 participating organisations.APCA said in a statement that it would participate in PCI working groups and play a part in setting standards.