Visa removed Global Payments, an Atlanta company that helps the payment giant process transactions for merchants, from its list of “compliant service providers.”


A security breach at Global Payments reported on Friday was thought to have compromised up to three million credit card accounts. It is among a group of companies that act as the plumbing in the electronic transaction chain, authorizing millions of transactions a day. That makes the companies prime targets for data thieves looking to steal richly detailed financial information.


The details of the data breach are still unknown, but bank officials said Friday that they were told by Visa and MasterCard that the breach happened between late January and late February. The hackers gained access to what is known as Track 1 and Track 2 data, which includes names, card numbers and validation codes.


Ahead of a scheduled conference call, Global Payments announced on Sunday that hackers had compromised only 1.5 million card numbers. In a statement, the company also reassured investors and customers that the data theft was limited to Track 2 data and did no include Social Security numbers, addresses or cardholder names. “Based on the forensic analysis to date, network monitoring and additional security measures, the company believes that this incident is contained,” the company said in the statement. That’s not enough to earn Global Payments a spot on Visa’s approved provider list. In a statement Sunday, Visa confirmed its decision to remove Global Payments from its list of approved providers. The decision was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.


“Based on Global Payments’ reported unauthorized access, Visa removed the company” from its list of providers, Visa said in a statement.


Amy Corn, a spokeswoman for Global Payments, said the company expected to be reinstated, but she did not indicate how long that would take. “We continue to process transactions for our merchants and customers with the same efficiency and care that they have come to expect,” she said.