Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American
multinational financial services corporation headquartered in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
It facilitates
electronic funds transfer
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the electronic transfer of money from one bank account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, via computer-based systems, without the direct intervention of b ...
s throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded
credit card
A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...
s,
debit cards and
prepaid cards. Visa is one of the
world's most valuable companies.
Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash access programs to their customers. In 2015, the Nilson Report, a publication that tracks the credit card industry, found that Visa's global network (known as VisaNet) processed 100 billion transactions during 2014 with a total volume of US$6.8 trillion.
[ This article is authored by a ''Forbes'' staff member.]
Visa was founded in 1958 by
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
(BofA) as the BankAmericard credit card program.
[ Available through SpringerLink.] In response to competitor Master Charge (now
Mastercard), BofA began to license the BankAmericard program to other financial institutions in 1966.
By 1970, BofA gave up direct control of the BankAmericard program, forming a consortium with the other various BankAmericard issuer banks to take over its management. It was then renamed Visa in 1976.
Nearly all Visa transactions worldwide are processed through the company's directly operated VisaNet at one of four secure
data centers, located in
Ashburn, Virginia;
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The po ...
;
London, England
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...
; and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
. These facilities are heavily secured against natural disasters, crime, and terrorism; can operate independently of each other and from external utilities if necessary; and can handle up to 30,000 simultaneous transactions and up to 100 billion computations every second.
Visa is the world's second-largest card payment organization (debit and credit cards combined), after being surpassed by
China UnionPay
UnionPay (), also known as China UnionPay () or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese state-owned financial services corporation headquartered in Shanghai, China. It provides bank card services and a major card sch ...
in 2015, based on annual value of card payments transacted and number of issued cards.
However, because UnionPay's size is based primarily on the size of its domestic market in
China, Visa is still considered the dominant bankcard company in the rest of the world, where it commands a 50% market share of total card payments.
History
![Old Bankamericard sign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Old_Bankamericard_sign.jpg)
On September 18, 1958,
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
(BofA) officially launched its BankAmericard credit card program in
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
.
In the weeks leading up to the launch of BankAmericard, BofA had saturated Fresno mailboxes with an initial mass mailing (or "drop", as they came to be called) of 65,000 unsolicited credit cards.
BankAmericard was the brainchild of BofA's in-house product development
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
, the Customer Services Research Group, and its leader,
Joseph P. Williams. Williams convinced senior BofA executives in 1956 to let him pursue what became the world's first successful mass mailing of unsolicited credit cards (actual working cards, not mere applications) to a large population.
Williams' pioneering accomplishment was that he brought about the successful implementation of the all-purpose credit card (in the sense that his project was not canceled outright), not in coming up with the idea.
By the mid-1950s, the typical middle-class American already maintained
revolving credit
Revolving credit is a type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments, in contrast to installment credit. Credit cards are an example of revolving credit used by consumers. Corporate revolving credit facilities are typically used to ...
accounts with several different merchants, which was clearly inefficient and inconvenient due to the need to carry so many cards and pay so many separate bills each month.
The need for a unified financial instrument was already evident to the American financial services industry, but no one could figure out how to do it. There were already
charge card
A charge card is a type of credit card that enables the cardholder to make purchases which are paid for by the card issuer, to whom the cardholder becomes indebted. The cardholder is obligated to repay the debt to the card issuer in full by the ...
s like
Diners Club
A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a com ...
(which had to be paid in full at the end of each billing cycle), and "by the mid-1950s, there had been at least a dozen attempts to create an all-purpose credit card."
However, these prior attempts had been carried out by small banks which lacked the resources to make them work.
Williams and his team studied these failures carefully and believed they could avoid replicating those banks' mistakes; they also studied existing revolving credit operations at
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
and
Mobil Oil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
to learn why they were successful.
Fresno was selected for its population of 250,000 (big enough to make a credit card work, small enough to control initial startup cost), BofA's market share of that population (45%), and relative isolation, to control public relations damage in case the project failed.
According to Williams,
Florsheim Shoes was the first major retail chain which agreed to accept BankAmericard at its stores.
The 1958 test at first went smoothly, but then BofA panicked when it confirmed rumors that another bank was about to initiate its own drop in San Francisco, BofA's home market.
By March 1959, drops began in San Francisco and
Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
; by June, BofA was dropping cards in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
; by October, the entire state of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
had been saturated with over 2 million credit cards and BankAmericard was being accepted by 20,000 merchants.
However, the program was riddled with problems, as Williams (who had never worked in a bank's loan department) had been too earnest and trusting in his belief in the basic goodness of the bank's customers, and he resigned in December 1959. Twenty-two percent of accounts were delinquent, not the 4% expected, and police departments around the state were confronted by numerous incidents of the brand new crime of
credit card fraud.
Both politicians and journalists joined the general uproar against Bank of America and its newfangled credit card, especially when it was pointed out that the cardholder agreement held customers liable for all charges, even those resulting from fraud.
BofA officially lost over $8.8 million on the launch of BankAmericard, but when the full cost of advertising and overhead was included, the bank's actual loss was probably around $20 million.
However, after Williams and some of his closest associates left, BofA management realized that BankAmericard was salvageable.
They conducted a "massive effort" to clean up after Williams, imposed proper financial controls, published an open letter to 3 million households across the state apologizing for the credit card fraud and other issues their card raised and eventually were able to make the new financial instrument work.
By May 1961, the BankAmericard program became profitable for the first time.
[ Available through SpringerLink.] At the time, BofA deliberately kept this information secret and allowed then-widespread negative impressions to linger in order to ward off competition.
[ Available through SpringerLink.] This strategy worked until 1966, when BankAmericard's profitability had become far too big to hide.
The original goal of BofA was to offer the BankAmericard product across California, but in 1966, BofA began to sign licensing agreements with a group of banks outside of California, in response to a new competitor, Master Charge (now
MasterCard), which had been created by an alliance of several regional bankcard associations to compete against BankAmericard. BofA itself (like all other U.S. banks at the time) could not expand directly into other states due to federal restrictions
not repealed until 1994. Over the following 11 years, various banks licensed the card system from Bank of America, thus forming a network of banks backing the BankAmericard system across the United States.
["History of Visa"](_blank)
Visa Latin America & Caribbean. The "drops" of unsolicited credit cards continued unabated, thanks to BofA and its licensees and competitors until they were outlawed in 1970, but not before over 100 million credit cards had been distributed into the American population.
During the late 1960s, BofA also licensed the BankAmericard program to banks in several other countries, which began issuing cards with localized brand names. For example:
* In Canada, an alliance of banks (including
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. T ...
,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; french: Banque canadienne impériale de commerce) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario. ...
,
Royal Bank of Canada,
Banque Canadienne Nationale
The Banque Canadienne Nationale was a bank based in the province of Quebec, Canada. It was formed in 1924 from the merger of the Banque d'Hochelaga and the Banque Nationale, and operated until 1979, when it became part of the National Bank of Can ...
and
Bank of Nova Scotia
The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...
) issued credit cards under the ''Chargex'' name from 1968 to 1977.
* In France, it was known as ''
Carte Bleue
''Carte Bleue'' ( en, Blue Card) was a major debit card payment system operating in France. Unlike Visa Electron or Maestro debit cards, Carte Bleue transactions worked without requiring authorization from the cardholder's bank. In many situat ...
'' (Blue Card). The logo still appears on many French-issued Visa cards today.
* In Japan,
The Sumitomo Bank
was a major Japanese bank based in Osaka and a central component of the Sumitomo Group. It merged with Sakura Bank on April 1, 2001 to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
History
Sumitomo Bank was established as a private enterprise ...
issued BankAmericards through the Sumitomo Credit Service.
* In the UK, the only BankAmericard issuer for some years was
Barclaycard
Barclaycard (; stylized as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. , Barclays had over ten million customers in the United Kingdom.
History
Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June 1966, initially as a charge card, but followi ...
. The branding still exists today, but is used not only on Visa cards issued by
Barclays, but on its MasterCard and
American Express cards as well.
* In Spain until 1979 the only issuer was
Banco de Bilbao
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is prese ...
.
In 1968, a manager at the National Bank of Commerce (later
Rainier Bancorp),
Dee Hock
Dee Ward Hock (March 21, 1929 – July 16, 2022) was the founder and CEO of the Visa credit card association.
Career
Hock was born in North Ogden, Utah, in 1929 and attended Weber State University where he graduated in 1949. In 1968, Hock wa ...
, was asked to supervise that bank's launch of its own licensed version of BankAmericard in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
market. Although Bank of America had cultivated the public image that BankAmericard's troubled startup issues were now safely in the past, Hock realized that the BankAmericard licensee program itself was in terrible disarray because it had developed and grown very rapidly in an ''ad hoc'' fashion. For example, "interchange" transaction issues ''between'' banks were becoming a very serious problem, which had not been seen before when Bank of America was the sole issuer of BankAmericards. Hock suggested to other licensees that they form a committee to investigate and analyze the various problems with the licensee program; they promptly made him the chair of that committee.
After lengthy negotiations, the committee led by Hock was able to persuade Bank of America that a bright future lay ahead for BankAmericard — outside Bank of America. In June 1970, Bank of America gave up control of the BankAmericard program. The various BankAmericard issuer banks took control of the program, creating National BankAmericard Inc. (NBI), an independent
Delaware corporation
The Delaware General Corporation Law (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code) is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U.S. state of Delaware. Adopted in 1899, the statute has since seen Delaware become the most im ...
which would be in charge of managing, promoting and developing the BankAmericard system within the United States. In other words, BankAmericard was transformed from a franchising system into a jointly controlled consortium or alliance, like its competitor Master Charge. Hock became NBI's first president and CEO.
However, Bank of America retained the right to directly license BankAmericard to banks outside the United States and continued to issue and support such licenses. By 1972, licenses had been granted in 15 countries. The international licensees soon encountered a variety of problems with their licensing programs, and they hired Hock as a consultant to help them restructure their relationship with BofA as he had done for the domestic licensees. As a result, in 1974, the International Bankcard Company (IBANCO), a multinational member corporation, was founded in order to manage the international BankAmericard program.
In 1976, the directors of IBANCO determined that bringing the various international networks together into a single network with a single name internationally would be in the best interests of the corporation; however, in many countries, there was still great reluctance to issue a card associated with Bank of America, even though the association was entirely nominal in nature. For this reason, in 1976, BankAmericard, Barclaycard, Carte Bleue, Chargex, Sumitomo Card, and all other licensees united under the new name, "Visa", which retained the distinctive blue, white and gold flag. NBI became Visa USA and IBANCO became Visa International.
The term ''Visa'' was conceived by the company's founder, Dee Hock. He believed that the word was instantly recognizable in many languages in many countries and that it also denoted universal acceptance.
In October 2007, Bank of America announced it was resurrecting the BankAmericard brand name as the "BankAmericard Rewards Visa".
Following the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
, in March 2022, Visa announced that it would suspend all business operations in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
Corporate structure
Prior to October 3, 2007, Visa comprised four non-stock, separately incorporated companies that employed 6,000 people worldwide: the worldwide parent entity Visa International Service Association (Visa), Visa USA Inc., Visa Canada Association, and Visa Europe Ltd. The latter three separately incorporated regions had the status of group members of Visa International Service Association.
The unincorporated regions Visa Latin America (
LAC
Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''.
Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...
), Visa Asia Pacific and Visa Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) were divisions within Visa.
Billing and finance charge methods
Initially, signed copies of sales drafts were included in each customer's monthly billing statement for verification purposes—an industry practice known as "country club billing". By the late 1970s, however, billing statements no longer contained these enclosures, but rather a summary statement showing posting date, purchase date, reference number, merchant name, and the dollar amount of each purchase. At the same time, many issuers, particularly Bank of America, were in the process of changing their methods of finance charge calculation. Initially, a "previous balance" method was used—calculation of finance charge on the unpaid balance shown on the prior month's statement. Later, it was decided to use "average daily balance" which resulted in increased revenue for the issuers by calculating the number of days each purchase was included on the prior month's statement. Several years later, "new average daily balance"—in which transactions from previous and current billing cycles were used in the calculation—was introduced. By the early 1980s, many issuers introduced the concept of the annual fee as yet another revenue enhancer.
IPO and restructuring
On October 11, 2006, Visa announced that some of its businesses would be merged and become a
publicly traded company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...
, Visa Inc.
Under the IPO restructuring, Visa Canada, Visa International, and Visa USA were merged into the new public company. Visa's Western Europe operation became a separate company, owned by its member banks who will also have a minority stake in Visa Inc. In total, more than 35 investment banks participated in the deal in several capacities, most notably as underwriters.
On October 3, 2007, Visa completed its corporate restructuring with the formation of Visa Inc. The new company was the first step towards Visa's IPO. The second step came on November 9, 2007, when the new Visa Inc. submitted its $10 billion IPO filing with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
(SEC). On February 25, 2008, Visa announced it would go ahead with an IPO of half its shares. The IPO took place on March 18, 2008. Visa sold 406 million shares at US$44 per share ($2 above the high end of the expected $37–42 pricing range), raising US$17.9 billion in what was then the largest initial public offering in U.S. history. On March 20, 2008, the IPO underwriters (including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., Bank of America Securities LLC, Citi, HSBC, Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS Investment Bank and Wachovia Securities) exercised their overallotment option, purchasing an additional 40.6 million shares, bringing Visa's total IPO share count to 446.6 million, and bringing the total proceeds to US$19.1 billion. Visa now trades under the
ticker symbol
A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...
"V" on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
.
Visa Europe
Visa Europe Ltd. was a membership association and cooperative of over 3,700 European banks and other
payment service provider
A payment service provider (PSP) is a third-party company that assists businesses to accept electronic payments, such as credit cards and debit cards payments. PSPs act as intermediaries between those who make payments, i.e. consumers, and thos ...
s that operated Visa branded products and services within Europe. Visa Europe was a company entirely separate from Visa Inc. having gained independence of Visa International Service Association in October 2007 when Visa Inc. became a
publicly traded company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...
on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
.
Visa Inc. announced the plan to acquire Visa Europe on November 2, 2015, creating a single global company. On April 21, 2016, the agreement was amended in response to the feedback of
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
. The acquisition of Visa Europe was completed on June 21, 2016.
Failed acquisition of Plaid
On January 13, 2020,
Plaid announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Visa for $5.3 billion. The deal was double the company's most recent Series C round valuation of $2.65 billion, and was expected to close in the next 3–6 months, subject to regulatory review and closing conditions. According to the deal, Visa would pay $4.9 billion in cash and approximately $400 million of retention equity and deferred equity, according to a presentation deck prepared by Visa.
On November 5, 2020, the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
filed a lawsuit seeking to block the acquisition, arguing that Visa is a
monopolist
A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...
trying to eliminate a competitive threat by purchasing Plaid. Visa said it disagrees with the lawsuit and "intends to defend the transaction vigorously."
Digital currencies
On February 3, 2021, Visa announced a partnership with First Boulevard, a
neobank
A neobank (also known as an online bank, internet-only bank, virtual bank or digital bank) is a type of direct bank that operates exclusively online without traditional physical branch networks. The term "challenger bank" is used in the UK to re ...
promoting cryptocurrency, which has been touted as a means of building generational wealth for Black Americans. The partnership would allow their users to buy, sell, hold, and trade digital assets through
Anchorage Digital.
On March 29, 2021, Visa announced the acceptance of stable coin
USDC to settle transactions on its network.
Visa Foundation
Registered in the United States as a
501(c)(3) entity, the Visa Foundation was created with the mission of supporting inclusive economies. In particular, economies in which individuals, businesses and communities can thrive with the support of grants and investments. Supporting resiliency, as well as the growth, of micro and small businesses that benefit women is a priority of the Visa Foundation. Furthermore, the Foundation prioritizes providing support to the community from a broad standpoint, as well as responding to disasters during crisis.
Other initiatives
In December 2020, Visa Announced the launch of a new
accelerator program across
Asia Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...
to further develop the region's
financial technology
Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are r ...
ecosystem. The accelerator program aims to find and partner with
startup companies
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
providing financial and payments technologies that could potentially leverage on Visa's network of bank and merchant partners in the region.
Finance
For the fiscal year 2022, Visa reported earnings of US$14.96 billion, with an annual revenue of US$29.31 billion, an increase of 21.6% over the previous fiscal cycle. As of 2022, the company ranked 147th on the
''Fortune'' 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue. Visa's shares traded at over $143 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$280.2 billion in September 2018.
Criticism and controversy
WikiLeaks
Visa Europe began suspending payments to
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
on December 7, 2010. The company said it was awaiting an investigation into 'the nature of its business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules' – though it did not go into details.
[No proof WikiLeaks breaking law, inquiry finds]
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
(January 26, 2011) In return DataCell, the
IT company that enables WikiLeaks to accept credit and debit card donations, announced that it would take legal action against Visa Europe. On December 8, the group
Anonymous performed a
DDoS
In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connec ...
attack on visa.com, bringing the site down. Although the Norway-based financial services company Teller AS, which Visa ordered to look into WikiLeaks and its fundraising body, the Sunshine Press, found no proof of any wrongdoing, ''
Salon'' reported in January 2011 that Visa Europe "would continue blocking donations to the secret-spilling site until it completes its own investigation".
[
The ]United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
Navi Pillay
Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (born 23 September 1941) is a South African jurist who served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. A South African of Indian Tamil origin, she was the first non-white woman judge o ...
stated that Visa may be "violating WikiLeaks' right to freedom of expression" by withdrawing their services.
In July 2012, the Reykjavík District Court decided that Valitor
Valitor is a merchant services, acquirer, card issuer and payment gateway solutions company headquartered in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland. Valitor is Visa's and Mastercard's partner in Iceland and offers various online and e-commerce solutions interna ...
(the Icelandic partner of Visa and MasterCard) was violating the law when it prevented donations to the site by credit card. It was ruled that the donations be allowed to return to the site within 14 days or they would be fined in the amount of US$6,000 per day.
Litigation and regulatory actions
Anti-competitive conduct in Australia
In 2015, the Australian Federal Court ordered Visa to pay a pecuniary penalty of $20 million (including legal fees) for engaging in anti-competitive conduct against dynamic currency conversion operators, in proceedings brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Antitrust lawsuit by ATM operators
In 2011, MasterCard and Visa were sued in a class action by ATM operators claiming the credit card networks' rules effectively fix ATM access fees. The suit claimed that this is a restraint on trade in violation of US federal law. The lawsuit was filed by the National ATM Council and independent operators of automated teller machines. More specifically, it is alleged that MasterCard's and Visa's network rules prohibit ATM operators from offering lower prices for transactions over PIN-debit networks that are not affiliated with Visa or MasterCard. The suit says that this price-fixing artificially raises the price that consumers pay using ATMs, limits the revenue that ATM-operators earn, and violates the Sherman Act's prohibition against unreasonable restraints of trade.
Johnathan Rubin, an attorney for the plaintiffs said, "Visa and MasterCard are the ringleaders, organizers, and enforcers of a conspiracy among U.S. banks to fix the price of ATM access fees in order to keep the competition at bay."
In 2017, a US district court denied the ATM operators' request to stop Visa from enforcing the ATM fees.
Debit card swipe fees
In 1996, a class of U.S. merchants, including Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, brought an antitrust lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard over their "Honor All Cards" policy, which forced merchants who accepted Visa and MasterCard branded credit cards to also accept their respective debit cards (such as the "Visa Check Card"). Over 4 million class members were represented by the plaintiffs. According to a website associated with the suit, Visa and MasterCard settled the plaintiffs' claims in 2003 for a total of $3.05 billion. Visa's share of this settlement is reported to have been the larger.
U.S. Justice Department actions
In 1998, the Department of Justice sued Visa over rules prohibiting its issuing banks from doing business with American Express and Discover
Discover may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album
* ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine
Businesses and brands
* DISCover, the ''Digital Interactive Systems Corporation''
* D ...
. The Department of Justice won its case at trial in 2001 and the verdict was upheld on appeal. American Express and Discover filed suit as well.
In October 2010, Visa and MasterCard reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States ...
in another antitrust case. The companies agreed to allow merchants displaying their logos to decline certain types of cards (because interchange fee
Interchange fee is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card-based transactions. Usually for sales/services transactions it is a fee that a merchant's bank (the "acquiring bank") pay ...
s differ), or to offer consumers discounts for using cheaper cards.
Antitrust issues in Europe
In 2002, the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
exempted Visa's multilateral interchange fees from Article 81 of the EC Treaty that prohibits anti-competitive arrangements. However, this exemption expired on December 31, 2007. In the United Kingdom, Mastercard has reduced its interchange fees while it is under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.
In January 2007, the European Commission issued the results of a two-year inquiry into the retail banking sector. The report focuses on payment cards and interchange fees. Upon publishing the report, Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the "present level of interchange fees in many of the schemes we have examined does not seem justified." The report called for further study of the issue.
On March 26, 2008, the European Commission opened an investigation into Visa's multilateral interchange fees for cross-border transactions within the EEA as well as into the "Honor All Cards" rule (under which merchants are required to accept all valid Visa-branded cards).
The antitrust authorities of EU member states (other than the United Kingdom) also investigated Mastercard's and Visa's interchange fees. For example, on January 4, 2007, the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection fined twenty banks a total of PLN 164 million (about $56 million) for jointly setting Mastercard's and Visa's interchange fees.
In December 2010, Visa reached a settlement with the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
in yet another antitrust case, promising to reduce debit card payments to 0.2 percent of a purchase. A senior official from the European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centr ...
called for a break-up of the Visa/Mastercard duopoly by creation of a new European debit card for use in the Single Euro Payments Area
The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euro. , there were 36 members in SEPA, consisting of the 27 member states of the European Union ...
(SEPA). After Visa's blocking of payments to WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
, members of the European Parliament expressed concern that payments from European citizens to a European corporation could apparently be blocked by the US, and called for a further reduction in the dominance of Visa and Mastercard in the European payment system.
Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation
On November 27, 2012, a federal judge entered an order granting preliminary approval to a proposed settlement to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2005 by merchants and trade associations against Mastercard and Visa. The suit was filed due to alleged price-fixing practices employed by Mastercard and Visa. About one-quarter of the named class plaintiffs have decided to opt "out of the settlement". Opponents object to provisions that would bar future lawsuits and even prevent merchants from opting out of significant portions of the proposed settlement.
Plaintiffs allege that Visa and Mastercard fixed interchange fees
Interchange fee is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card-based transactions. Usually for sales/services transactions it is a fee that a merchant's bank (the "acquiring bank") pay ...
, also known as swipe fees, that are charged to merchants for the privilege of accepting payment cards. In their complaint, the plaintiffs also alleged that the defendants unfairly interfere with merchants from encouraging customers to use less expensive forms of payment such as lower-cost cards, cash, and checks.
A settlement of US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
6.24 billion has been reached and a court is scheduled to approve or deny the agreement on November 7, 2019.
High swipe fees in Poland
Very high interchange fee for Visa (1.5–1.6% from every transaction's final price, which also includes VAT) in Poland started discussion about legality and need for government regulations of interchange fees to avoid high costs for business (which also block electronic payment market and acceptability of cards). This situation also led to the birth of new methods of payment in the year 2013, which avoid the need for go-between (middleman) companies like Visa or Mastercard, for example mobile application issued by major banks, and system by big chain of discount shops, or older public transport tickets buying systems.
Confrontation with Walmart over high fees
In June 2016, the ''Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported that Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
threatened to stop accepting Visa cards in Canada. Visa objected saying that consumers should not be dragged into a dispute between the companies. In January 2017, Walmart Canada and Visa reached a deal to allow the continued acceptance of Visa.
Dispute with Kroger over high credit card fees
In March 2019, U.S. retailer Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...
announced that its 250-strong Smith's chain would stop accepting Visa credit cards as of April 3, 2019, due to the cards’ high ‘swipe’ fees. Kroger's California-based Foods Co
Food 4 Less is the name of several grocery store chains, the largest of which is currently owned by Kroger. It is a no-frills grocery store where the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout. Kroger operates Food 4 Less stores in the ...
stores stopped accepting Visa cards in August 2018. Mike Schlotman, Kroger's executive vice president/chief financial officer, said Visa had been “misusing its position and charging retailers excessive fees for a long time.” In response, Visa issued a statement saying it was “unfair and disappointing that Kroger is putting shoppers in the middle of a business dispute.” As of October 31, 2019, Kroger has settled their dispute with Visa and is now accepting the payment method.
Antitrust investigation over debit card practices
In March 2021, the United States Justice Department announced its investigation with Visa to discover if the company is engaging in anticompetitive practices in the debit card market. The main question at hand is whether or not Visa is limiting merchants' ability to route debit card transactions over card networks that are often less expensive, focusing more so on online debit card transactions. The probe highlights the role of network fees, which are invisible to consumers and place pressure on merchants, who mitigate the fees by raising prices of goods for customers. The probe was confirmed through a regulatory filing on March 19, 2021, stating they will be cooperating with the Justice Department. Visa's shares fell more than 6% following the announcement.
Corporate affairs
Headquarters
In 2009, Visa moved its corporate headquarters back to San Francisco when it leased the top three floors of the 595 Market Street office building, although most of its employees remained at its Foster City campus.[Week in review]
" '' The Daily Journal''. January 3, 2009. Retrieved on February 2, 2011. In 2012, Visa decided to consolidate its headquarters in Foster City where 3,100 of its 7,700 global workers are employed. Visa owns four buildings at the intersection of Metro Center Boulevard and Vintage Park Drive.
As of October 1, 2012, Visa's headquarters are located in Foster City, California. Visa had been headquartered in San Francisco until 1985, when it moved to San Mateo.[Visa finds a passport to the future San Mateo Company bets on 'SMART' cards that will exchange information, not just money]
" ''San Jose Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
''. Monday August 7, 1995. 1F Business. Retrieved on February 2, 2011. "Visa's headquarters remained in San Francisco until 1985 when it relocated to San Mateo. Then, two years ago, it began consolidating scattered sites throughout San Mateo in nearby Foster City with ... Around 1993, Visa began consolidating various scattered offices in San Mateo to a location in Foster City. Visa became Foster City's largest employer.
In December 2012, Visa Inc. confirmed that it will build a global information technology center off of the US 183
U.S. Route 183 (US 183) is a north–south United States highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Presho, South Dakota, at an intersection with Interstate 90. Its southern terminus is in Refugio, Texas, at the southern intersectio ...
Expressway in northwest Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
. By 2019, Visa leased space in four buildings near Austin and employed nearly 2,000 people.
On November 6, 2019, Visa announced plans to move its headquarters back to San Francisco by 2024 upon completion of a new "13-story, 300,000-square-foot building".
Operations
Visa offers through its issuing members the following types of cards:
* Debit cards (pay from a checking/savings account)
* Credit card
A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...
s (pay monthly payments with or without interest depending on a customer paying on time)
* Prepaid cards (pay from a cash account that has no check writing privileges)
Visa operates the Plus
Plus may refer to:
Mathematics
* Addition
* +, the mathematical sign
Music
* ''+'' (Ed Sheeran album), (pronounced "plus"), 2011
* ''Plus'' (Cannonball Adderley Quintet album), 1961
* ''Plus'' (Matt Nathanson EP), 2003
* ''Plus'' (Martin Ga ...
automated teller machine
An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...
network and the Interlink
Interlink may refer to:
*Hyperlinks
*Interlink Electronics
*Interlink (interbank network)
*Interlink Airlines
*Interlink Publishing
*B-Train road trains in southern Africa
*T. F. Green Airport (MBTA station), in Warwick, Rhode Island, US
*Interl ...
EFTPOS
Electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS; ) is an electronic payment system involving electronic funds transfers based on the use of payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, at payment terminals located at points of sale. EFTPOS ...
point-of-sale
The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoic ...
network, which facilitate the "debit" protocol used with debit cards and prepaid cards. They also provide commercial payment solutions for small businesses, midsize and large corporations, and governments.
Visa teamed with Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
in September 2014, to incorporate a new mobile wallet feature into Apple's new iPhone models, enabling users to more readily use their Visa, and other credit/debit cards.
Operating regulations
Visa has a set of rules that govern the participation of financial institutions in its payment system. Acquiring bank
An acquiring bank (also known simply as an acquirer) is a bank or financial institution that processes credit or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant. The acquirer allows merchants to accept credit card payments from the card-issuing bank ...
s are responsible for ensuring that their merchants comply with the rules.
Rules address how a cardholder must be identified for security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...
, how transactions may be denied by the bank, and how banks may cooperate for fraud prevention, and how to keep that identification and fraud protection standard and non-discriminatory. Other rules govern what creates an enforceable proof of authorization by the cardholder.["Visa Rules for Merchants"](_blank)
, Orion Payment Systems, Retrieved July 2, 2010.
The rules prohibit merchants from imposing a minimum or maximum purchase amount in order to accept a Visa card and from charging cardholders a fee for using a Visa card. In ten U.S. states, surcharges for the use of a credit card are forbidden by law (California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
, Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
, Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, New York, Oklahoma and Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
) but a discount for cash is permitted under specific rules. Some countries have banned the no-surcharge rule, most notably in Australia retailers may apply surcharges to any credit-card transaction, Visa or otherwise. In the UK the law was changed in January 2018 to prevent retailers from adding a surcharge to a transaction as per
The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012
.
Visa permits merchants to ask for photo ID, although the merchant rule book states that this practice is discouraged. As long as the Visa card is signed, a merchant may not deny a transaction because a cardholder refuses to show a photo ID.
The Dodd–Frank Act allows U.S. merchants to set a minimum purchase amount on credit card transactions, not to exceed $10.
Recent complications include the addition of exceptions for non-signed purchases by telephone or on the Internet and an additional security system called " Verified by Visa" for purchases on the Internet.
In September 2014, Visa Inc, launched a new service to replace account information on plastic cards with "token" – a digital account number.
Products
Visa Credit Cards
Depending on the geographical location, Visa card issuer issue the following tiers of cards, from the lowest to the highest:
* Traditional/Classic/Standard
* Gold
* Platinum
* Signature (Worldwide except Canada)
* Infinite
* Infinite Privilege (Canada only)
Visa Debit
This is the standard Visa-branded debit card.
Visa Electron
A Visa-branded debit card issued worldwide since the 1990s. Its distinguishing feature is that it does not allow "card not present" transactions while its floor limit is set to zero, which triggers automatic authorisation of each transaction with the issuing bank and effectively makes it impossible for the user to overdraw the account. The card has often been issued to younger customers or those who may pose a risk of overdrawing the account. Since mid-2000s, the card has mostly been replaced by Visa Debit.
Visa Cash
A Visa-branded stored-value card
A stored-value card (SVC) is a payment card with a monetary value stored on the card itself, not in an external account maintained by a financial institution. This means no network access is required by the payment collection terminals as funds ...
.
Visa Contactless (formerly payWave)
In September 2007, Visa introduced Visa payWave, a contactless payment
Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC, e.g. Samsung ...
technology feature that allows cardholders to wave their card in front of contactless payment terminals without the need to physically swipe or insert the card into a point-of-sale device. This is similar to the Mastercard Contactless service and the American Express ExpressPay, with both using RFID technology. All three use the same symbol as shown on the right.
In Europe, Visa has introduced the V Pay
V Pay is a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) debit card for use in Europe, issued by Visa Europe. It uses the EMV chip and PIN system and may be co-branded with various national debit card schemes such as the German Girocard or Italy's PagoBan ...
card, which is a chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...
-only and PIN
A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together.
Pin or PIN may also refer to:
Computers and technology
* Personal identification number (PIN), to access a secured system
** PIN pad, a PIN entry device
* PIN, a former Dutch ...
-only debit card. In Australia, take up has been the highest in the world, with more than 50% of in store Visa transactions now made via Visa payWave.
mVisa
mVisa is a mobile payment app allowing payment via smartphones using QR code
A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...
. This QR code payment
QR code payment is a contactless payment method where payment is performed by scanning a QR code from a mobile app. This is an alternative to doing electronic funds transfer at point of sale using a payment terminal. This avoids a lot of the infra ...
method was first introduced in India in 2015. It was later expanded to a number of other countries, including in Africa and South East Asia.
Visa Checkout
In 2013, Visa launched Visa Checkout, an online payment system that removes the need to share card details with retailers. The Visa Checkout service allows users to enter all their personal details and card information, then use a single username and password to make purchases from online retailers. The service works with Visa credit, debit, and prepaid cards. On November 27, 2013, V.me went live in the UK, France, Spain and Poland, with Nationwide Building Society being the first financial institution in Britain to support it, although Nationwide subsequently withdrew this service in 2016.
Trademark and design
Logo design
The blue and gold in Visa's logo were chosen to represent the blue sky and gold-colored hills of California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, where the Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
was founded.
In 2005, Visa changed its logo, removing the horizontal stripes in favor of a simple white background with the name Visa in blue with an orange flick on the 'V'. The orange flick was removed in favor of the logo being a solid blue gradient in 2014. In 2015, the gold and blue stripes were restored as card branding on Visa Debit
Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit ...
and Visa Electron
Visa Electron is a debit card product that uses the Visa payment system. It is offered by issuing banks in every country with the exception of Canada, Australia, Argentina, Ireland and the United States. The difference between Visa Electron an ...
, although not as the company's logotype.
Card design
In 1984, most Visa cards around the world began to feature a hologram
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
of a dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
on its face, generally under the last four digits of the Visa number. This was implemented as a security feature – true holograms would appear three-dimensional and the image would change as the card was turned. At the same time, the Visa logo, which had previously covered the whole card face, was reduced in size to a strip on the card's right incorporating the hologram. This allowed issuing banks to customize the appearance of the card. Similar changes were implemented with MasterCard cards. Today, cards may be co-branded with various merchants, airlines, etc., and marketed as "reward cards".
On older Visa cards, holding the face of the card under an ultraviolet light
Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...
will reveal the dove picture, dubbed the Ultra-Sensitive Dove, as an additional security test. (On newer Visa cards, the UV dove is replaced by a small V over the Visa logo.)
Beginning in 2005, the Visa standard was changed to allow for the hologram to be placed on the back of the card, or to be replaced with a holographic magnetic stripe ("HoloMag"). The HoloMag card was shown to occasionally cause interference with card readers, so Visa eventually withdrew designs of HoloMag cards and reverted to traditional magnetic strips.
Signatures
Visa made a statement on January 12, 2018, that the signature requirement would become optional for all EMV contact or contactless chip-enabled merchants in North America starting in April 2018. It was noted that the signatures are no longer necessary to fight fraud and the fraud capabilities have advanced allowing this elimination leading to a faster in-store purchase experience. Visa was the last of the major credit card issuers to relax the signature requirements. The first to eliminate the signature was MasterCard Inc. followed by Discover Financial Services and American Express Co.
Sponsorships
Olympics and Paralympics
* Visa has been a worldwide sponsor of the Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
since 1986 and the International Paralympic Committee since 2002. Visa is the only card accepted at all Olympic and Paralympic venues. Its current contract with the International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
and International Paralympic Committee as the exclusive services sponsor will continue through 2032 and 2020 respectively. This includes the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, London 2012 Olympic Games
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
* In 2002, Visa became the first global sponsor of the IPC. Visa extended its partnership with the International Paralympic Committee through 2020, which includes the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games, the 2012 London Paralympic Games, 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games, 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympic Games and 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Others
* Visa was the jersey sponsor of Argentina's national basketball team at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship
The 2015 FIBA Americas Championship for Men, later known as the FIBA AmeriCup, was the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament for the 2016 Summer Olympics, in Brazil. This FIBA AmeriCup tournament was held in Mexico City, Mexico. The tournament was ...
in Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
.
* Visa is the shirt sponsor for the Argentina national rugby union team, nicknamed the Pumas. Also, Visa sponsors the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, the most important football club tournaments in South America.
* Since 1995, Visa has sponsored the U.S. National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) and a number of NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
whose practice jerseys display the Visa logo. Visa's sponsorship of the NFL extended through the 2014 season.
* Until 2005, Visa was the exclusive sponsor of the Triple Crown
Triple Crown may refer to:
Sports Horse racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)
** Triple Crown Trophy
** Triple Crown Productions
* Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Tri ...
thoroughbred tournament.
* Visa sponsored the Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...
first from the 1995 Rugby World Cup
The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country.
The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...
was held in South Africa until 12 years later, when the 2007 Rugby World Cup, was held in France.
* In 2007, Visa became the sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
in South Africa. The FIFA partnership provides Visa with global rights to a broad range of FIFA activities – including both the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup.
* Starting from the 2012 season, Visa became a partner of the Caterham F1 Team
The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian, later British owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One World Championship from to , following the acquisiti ...
. Visa is also known for motorsport sponsorship in the past: it sponsored PacWest Racing
PacWest Racing was a Champ Car racing team owned by Bruce McCaw founded in 1993.
The team's first full-time season was the next year, 1994, with drivers Dominic Dobson and future Indy Racing League co-champion Scott Sharp. In 1995, the team swi ...
's IndyCar team in 1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
and 1996, with drivers Danny Sullivan
Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Champions ...
and Mark Blundell
Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for four seasons, sports cars, and CART. He won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the en ...
respectively.
* Visa is currently a jersey sponsor of professional gaming ( esports) team SK Gaming
SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team wo ...
for 2017
* Visa is the main sponsor of the Argentine Hockey Confederation. The Visa logo is present on both the men's and women's playing kits.
See also
* RuPay
RuPay ''(portmanteau of Rupee and Payment)'' is an Indian multinational financial services and payment service system, conceived and launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on 26 March 2012. It was created to fulfil th ...
* UnionPay
UnionPay (), also known as China UnionPay () or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese state-owned financial services corporation headquartered in Shanghai, China. It provides bank card services and a major card sch ...
* CIBIL
TransUnion CIBIL Limited is a credit information company operating in India. It maintains credit files on 600 million individuals and 32 million businesses. TransUnion is one of four credit bureaus operating in India and is part of TransUnion, ...
* Damage waiver
* Entrust Bankcard
* Visa Buxx Visa Buxx is a prepaid card available in the United States and intended for use by teenagers.
Overview
The program was Visa's first prepaid card product and was launched in 2000. Visa Buxx is not a credit card; instead, it debits a prepaid accoun ...
* Visa Debit
Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit ...
* Visa Electron
Visa Electron is a debit card product that uses the Visa payment system. It is offered by issuing banks in every country with the exception of Canada, Australia, Argentina, Ireland and the United States. The difference between Visa Electron an ...
References
External links
* (in most cases, will automatically redirect to a localized version of Visa.com based on the user's location)
{{Authority control
Credit cards
Debit cards
American brands
Credit card issuer associations
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
1958 establishments in California
Companies based in San Francisco
Companies based in Foster City, California
Financial services companies established in 1958
Financial services companies based in California
Contactless smart cards
Financial services companies of the United States
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Financial District, San Francisco
2008 initial public offerings
Companies' terms of service