Which of the following is a role of the Payment Brand?

The role of the Payment Brand involves endorsing the qualification criteria for various assessment entities like Qualified Security Assessors (QSA), Payment Application Qualified Security Assessors (PA-QSA), and Approved Scanning Vendors (ASV). This endorsement is crucial because it ensures that these assessors meet the stringent requirements set to evaluate compliance with PCI DSS standards effectively. By overseeing the qualification of these entities, the Payment Brand helps maintain a consistent and reliable approach to security assessments across the payment ecosystem.

The other options pertain to functions that are not typically associated with the Payment Brand. Approving costs related to compliance validation and negotiating contracts with cardholders are usually responsibilities of financial institutions or payment processors, rather than the Payment Brand itself. Similarly, determining fees for service providers falls outside the Payment Brand's scope, as this is often managed at different levels of the payment ecosystem, usually by the individual service providers or partners.