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Heartland Bank sold its ownership in Heartland Payment Systems 10 years ago, but the Clayton-based bank didn’t quite escape involvement in the payment company’s massive computer security breach.

A $60 million settlement announced last week has the bank acting as a middle-man, passing settlement and fine money from the payment company to Visa, the credit card company, and other companies that issue credit cards.

A year ago, computer hackers broke into Heartland Payment’s computer system, compromising 130 million credit card accounts. Credit card issuers across the country, including Heartland Bank, replaced the compromised credit cards for customers.

Heartland Payment Systems, based in New Jersey, processes credit card payments for small and mid-sized merchants. Heartland Bank helped found the company in 1997, but sold its ownership in 2000.

However, Heartland and KeyBank of Cleveland remained as bank "sponsors" of the payment company. When Visa imposed a $780,000 fine, Heartland Bank and KeyBank paid it and collected the money from the payment company, according to a filing by the payment company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the settlement, the payment company will pay up to $60 million to reimburse credit card issuers that absorbed costs because of the security breach. The payment company intends to borrow $53 million of that.

The settlement, if finalized, would let Heartland Bank, KeyBank and the payment company off the hook for any claims resulting from the hacking incident. Heartland Bank executives could not be reached for comment. The privately held bank had $967 million in assets as of September, ranking it a mid-sized player in the St. Louis banking market. It earned $1.7 million in profit in the first nine months of last year.

In a filing with the SEC in November, KeyCorp, KeyBank’s parent company, said it sponsored Heartland Payment’s participation in Visa and MasterCard. KeyBank said Heartland Payment had indemnified it against losses, but that KeyBank could face "significant" costs if the payment company can’t pay.

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