Company Profile
Company Overview
Visa Inc. is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to use digital currency instead of cash and checks.
Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations enable its bank customers to offer consumers choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. From the world's major cities to remote areas without banks, people are increasingly relying on digital currency along with mobile technology to use their money anytime, make purchases online, transfer funds and access basic financial services. All of which makes their lives easier and helps grow economies.
Behind the Visa brand are more than 5,000 talented employees who continuously raise the bar with innovative solutions and products that deliver the convenience and security of digital currency to more people all over the world.
Company History
When Bank of America launched its pioneering BankAmericard program in Fresno, California, in 1958, the modern payment era was born.
A decade later, the program took a major step forward when Dee Hock, then one of the leaders of a group of BankAmericard licensee banks, proposed that the banks form an association; a joint venture that would allow Members to enjoy the benefits of a centralized payments system, while competing fairly for their own interests. Dee Hock became the new group's first president.
By the time Bank of America transferred control and ownership of BankAmericard to the newly incorporated NBI (National BankAmericard, Inc.) in 1970, credit card use was beginning to have a significant impact on how people bought and sold services.
In 1976, NBI changed the BankAmericard name to Visa, a simple, memorable name that is pronounced the same way in every language.
The point-of-sale model—using a physical card at a physical merchant in a face-to-face transaction—began to change in the 1980s with the rise of mail and telephone order transactions, where the merchant didn't have to see the actual card.
In 1986, Visa began an affiliation with the PLUS ATM network, opening the way for cardholders to get easy access to cash. As the decade closed, more and more banks had started to issue debit cards, providing bank account holders with direct access to their money.
The 1990s were characterized by the technological revolution, which dramatically changed the direction of the payments industry. As technology and the Internet evolved, so did the thinking of the traditional financial institution.
During this time, Visa recognized the potential for technology to connect every consumer, merchant, service provider, and financial institution in the world so that payments could truly be made anywhere, anytime and through any device.