While banks and credit unions are still dealing with the aftershocks of December’s data breach at Target, the cost to financial institutions has so far exceeded $200 million, two trade organizations said this week.

The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) estimated its members have spent at least $172 million replacing cards that were compromised in the breach, and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) estimated its members had spent at least $30.6 million replacing customers’ cards.

Cards replaced by CBA and CUNA members account for more than half of all affected cards, or 21.8 million of 40 million compromised cards, the two groups said.

The recent data breaches at Target, and later Neiman Marcus, have exposed a rift between financial institutions and retailers. Bankers have charged that retailers have little incentive to tighten up their data security measures because banks and credit unions will typically replace their customers’ cards for free in the wake of such a data breach.

Furthermore, some have noted the irony in capping interchange fees banks can collect while also leaving retailers financially unaccountable for those costs incurred after a major data breach like the one at Target last year.

A bill pending in the Massachusetts legislature would require the party responsible for the data breach to foot the bill for costs incurred dealing with the fallout, much as the driver responsible for the car crash assumes financial responsibility for the other driver’s bill.

Email: lalix@thewarrengroup.com