Critics say that the longer DES is used, the more likely its code could be broken. While realizing this could limit its life span as a government certified standard, ABA warned that requiring banks to convert to a new standard by 1998 (the year DES's certification expires) could be prohibitively costly due to the high level of electronic funds transfers secured by DES. ABA therefore encouraged the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) to continue to endorse DES as a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for use by the financial community.

"Breaking DES keys in a reasonable amount of time could be prohibitively costly for Banks due to the high level of electronic funds transfers secured by DES." andrew