About Company
Visa Inc., also formalized as VISA, is a US-based international financial services provider with its head office based in Foster City, California, US. The company offers electronic money transfer services across the globe, primarily via VISA-labeled debit cards, credit cards, and prepaid cards. It ranks among the top companies with the highest market capitalization.
Visa Inc. is not an issuer of cards nor does it provide credit or fix rates and charges for customers. Instead, it offers financial companies VISA-labeled fund transfer products that they subsequently utilize to provide debit, credit, prepaid, as well as cash accessibility programs to their subscribers.
The Nilson Report, in 2015, a journal that monitors the credit card sector, discovered that the worldwide network of Visa (termed as VisaNet) administered 100 billion deals throughout 2014 with an overall magnitude of US $6.8 trillion.
In 1958 September, VISA was introduced in the market by BofA (Bank of America) and at the time of its inception, the name of the program was the BankAmericard credit card program. In 1966, as an answer to its contender MasterCard (erstwhile Master Charge), Bank of America resumed approval of the BankAmericard scheme with the other financial services providers.
By 1970, Bank of America relinquished direct regulation of the BankAmericard scheme, creating a syndicate with different other provider banks of BankAmericard for assuming its administration.
In 1976, subsequently, the name of the organization was changed to Visa.
Almost all dealings with VISA throughout the world are managed via the directly controlled VisaNet at one of the four safe data centers and they are situated in the following places:
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
- Ashburn, Virginia
- Singapore
- London, England
All these centers are comprehensively safeguarded versus natural calamities, law-breaking, and sabotage. They can run self-reliantly of one another and from peripheral services if needed. They can take care of a maximum of thirty thousand deals happening at the same time and up to a hundred billion calculations per second.
Visa ranks as the 2nd biggest card transaction agency in the world (credit and debit cards aggregated), once it was outperformed by UnionPay, a Chinese financial services provider in 2015, in terms of the annual worth of card transactions executed and the count of cards issued. Nonetheless, since the volume of UnionPay is dependent mainly on the magnitude of its inland marketplace in China, Visa enjoys the position of the leading banking card issuer in the remainder of the world, where Visa enjoys almost half the market share of overall card transactions.
Who founded Visa Inc.?
The founder of the organization is Dee Hock.
When was Visa Inc. founded?
The company was founded on 18 September 1958; 62 years ago with the name BankAmericard at Fresno, CA, United States.
Which area does Visa Inc. serve?
The card payment company serves a global client base.
Visa Inc. Stock Performance
The stocks of Visa Inc. belong to Class A stocks and they are traded on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) with the ticker symbol V. Besides, it is also a component of the following indices:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
- Standard & Poor 100
- Standard & Poor 500
The stocks are also traded under Class B: Unlisted and Class C: Unlisted stock categories. On 17th September 2021, Visa Inc. closed trading with the New York Stock Exchange at $221.75 at 4 pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time).
Visa Inc. Financial Performance
Three Months Ended Quarterly Financial Performance
(Figures are in thousand US $ unless otherwise stated)
How many people work for Visa Inc.?
As of 2020, Visa employs 20,500 people.
Visa Inc. Business Operations
Visa provides via its issuing affiliates the forms of cards given below:
- Prepaid cards (Users can perform payment from a cash account without any check issuance benefits)
- Credit cards (Users can make interest-free or interest-added monthly payments contingent on a customer making payments punctually.)
- Debit cards (Users can make payments through a savings/checking account)
Visa runs the Interlink point-of-sale network (EFTPOS) and the automated teller machine network (Plus) that enable the “debit” procedure utilized with prepaid cards and debit cards. Besides, they offer mercantile fund transfer solutions for small-scale commercial enterprises, medium and large-scale establishments, and administrations.
In 2014 September, Visa collaborated with Apple for including a novel mobile wallet attribute into the newly launched iPhone models of Apple, allowing consumers to more promptly transact with their Visa, and any other debit/credit cards.
Visa Contactless (erstwhile PayWave)
In 2007 September, the company launched Visa payWave that is a contactless transaction technology attribute that enables card owners to flip their cards before contactless payment kiosks where there is no necessity to materially enter or pass the card into a POS (point-of-sale) gadget.
This has several similarities with the ExpressPay by American Express and the Contactless facilities of MasterCard, with both utilizing RFID (radio frequency identification) technology. Visa, American Express, and MasterCard make use of the same icon.
Visa has launched the V Pay card in Europe that is a PIN-exclusive and chip-exclusive debit card. Acceptance of this card in Australia has been the maximum across the world, with over half of the in-shop Visa deals currently performed via Visa payWave.
mVisa
This is a mobile payment application that enables transactions through smartphones with the help of QR codes. In 2015, this QR code transaction procedure was initially launched in India. Subsequently, it was spread to various other nations, such as the nations in South East Asia and Africa.
Visa Inc. Business Matters
Head office
As of 1st October 2012, the head office of Visa Inc. is situated in Foster City, California. Till 1985, the head office of Visa had been located in San Francisco, once it shifted to San Mateo. By 1993, Visa commenced merging different disconnected workplaces in San Mateo to a site based in Foster City. In this way, the card payment company turned into the biggest recruiter in the Foster City area.
Visa shifted its corporate head office to San Francisco once again in 2009, once it let out the uppermost 3 stories of the office premises located at 595 Market Street. However, the majority of its workforce stayed in its Foster City premises. Visa resolved to merge its central offices in Foster City in 2012. Around three thousand one hundred of its seven thousand seven hundred worldwide employees are working there. Visa is the proprietor of four edifices at the crossroad of Vintage Park Drive and Metro Center Boulevard.
In 2012 December, Visa Inc. affirmed that it would construct a worldwide information technology hub away from the United States 183 Expressway in NW Austin, Texas. By 2019, the company rented out commercial areas in four premises close to Austin and hired around 2,000 employees.
On 6th November 2019, the eminent card payment company declared strategies to shift its head office to San Francisco once again by 2024 on the accomplishment of a new thirteen-level, 300,000 sq ft edifice.
Visa Checkout
In 2013, Visa Checkout was introduced into the market by Visa Inc. It is an online transaction tool that gets rid of the necessity for sharing card information with retail merchants.
The Visa Checkout facility enables consumers to key in all their private info and card details. Subsequently, they can utilize an exclusive username and password for carrying out buys from online merchants. The facility functions smoothly with Visa-branded debit, credit, and prepaid cards. On 27th November 2013, V.me got live in France, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Spain, and Nationwide Building Society was the foremost financial services provider in Great Britain to endorse the portal. Nonetheless, Nationwide pulled out this facility afterward in 2016.
Visa Inc. Management
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Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. (CEO)
Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. serves as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and Chairman of Visa Inc. He became a part of the organization in December 2016. In 2019 April, he was voted as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. Alfred spent most of his professional life with American Express and the stint was from 1987 to 2010. Throughout this 23-year term, Kelly occupied various senior berths such as acting as the President of the company from 2007 July to 2010 April.
Instantly before joining Visa, Alfred served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Intersection, digital broadcasting, and tech firm that is an Alphabet-sponsored privately held organization situated in New York City.
In 2015, Mr. Alfred served as an administrative consultant to TowerBrook Capital Partners, L.P. At the same time, he was functioning as chair of Pope Francis’ New York City trip.
From 2011 April to 2014 August, Alfred served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Company, the body formed for collecting finances and organizing Super Bowl XLVIII.
From 1985 to 1987, before getting employment from American Express, Alfred served as the chief of the information technology setup at the White House. From 1981 to 1985, he also performed different roles in economic strategy and data systems with PepsiCo Inc.
Presently, Alfred is functioning on the Board of Directors of Catalyst and Visa, together with various bodies in the New York Archdiocese.
Kelly serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. Alfred serves as a trustee of Boston College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He has a B.A. degree in Information and Computer Science and an MBA degree from Iona College.
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Lynne Biggar
Lynne Biggar serves as the Executive Vice President (EVP), Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Visa, Inc. With this position, Ms. Lynne heads the worldwide brand planning of Visa, comprising all customer, Business-2-Business, and customer marketing operations that progress the brand and commercial objectives of Visa. Lynne also supervises administration and initiation of the world’s prominent funding properties of Visa, international and domestic communications, perceptions and advertising skills, and analytics.
Since becoming a part of the company in 2016 February, Lynne has propelled corporate results and esteemed endeavors, and the brand name of Visa keeps on speeding up its importance as one of the worthiest brands across the world.
Ms. Biggar was the first person to introduce multi-sensory branding. She also has a craving for objective-oriented marketing. Lynne heads worldwide planning concentrated on women’s liberation, small-scale commercial enterprises, microenterprise assistance, and international trade.
Lynne has played a key role in expanding the worldwide funding method of Visa as well when she accomplished multi-year augmentations with major worldwide financing properties. Presently, Visa is the exclusive brand name throughout the world, featuring key patronage of the Olympics, FIFA, and NFL.
Business Insider has distinguished Lynne as one of the twenty-five most creative Chief Marketing Officers in the World as laid down by its 2020 listing. She also found her place in the prestigious Top Influential Chief Marketing Officers (2019-2020) list published by Forbes magazine, and also Top Fifty and Thirty Most Powerful Women in Sports (2018 – 2020) brought out by AdWeek. Brand Innovators nominated Lynne on the list of the ‘Top 100’ Women in Brand Marketing published in consecutive three years – 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Lynne became a part of Visa Inc. after spending her stint with Time Inc. Biggar was the Executive VP of Revenue and Consumer Marketing there. Before joining this position there, Lynne had a stint of over two decades at American Express in a range of marketing and general supervision roles in the United States and overseas segments.
Lynne has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in international relations and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.
The Viewpoint of Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. believes in inclusion plus diversity while carrying out its business operations. It is an all-encompassing and diverse workplace that acknowledges everyone. It also believes in fair pay for equal work done. The concentration stays on making sure that the market leader in card payments is a diverse and comprehensive ambiance where various viewpoints are appreciated. All their personnel has a relaxed feeling when they visit the office daily to deliver their best.
Disclaimer: This article primarily focuses on educational knowledge enrichment and students and corporate sector employees would surely find it to be helpful. It is always advisable that this article should not be considered as any form of investment advice. It is rational to consult your investment advisor when it is a subject of decision-making on investment.
