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Visa is a brand of credit card and debit card operated by
the Visa International Service Association of San Francisco,
California, USA, an economic joint venture of 21,000 financial
institutions that issue and market Visa products. The Visa
card was launched in 1976, and the card was derived from the
earlier BankAmericard issued by Bank of America.
Internationally, BankAmericard was known by other names prior
to the introduction of the Visa brand for the network. The
blue-white-gold motif used by BankAmericard was also used
for these cards. In the United Kingdom, it was known as the
BarclayCard, issued by Barclay's Bank. In Canada, an alliance
of banks (including Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial
Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, and Bank of Nova Scotia)
issued creditcards under the Chargex name. In France, it was
known as Carte Bleue (Blue Card).
Visa´s corporate structure is regionally de-centralised,
which is unique in the payment scheme industry. Visa International
itself is a relatively small organisation that is responsible
for managing the global brand, developing globally interoperable
standards and establishing the fundamental rules (Operating
Regulations) that govern the payment relationships between
its member banks globally. However, there are five distinct
regions that are responsible for the day to day relationships
with local banks in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific and
Central Europe, Middle-East Africa (CEMEA) zones. The US,
Canada and Europe regions are separately incorporated. The
de-centralised nature of Visa allows it to respond to member
needs and adapt the Visa International rules and products
to suit the individual needs of their regional members.
Visa Board of Directors
As of December, 2004, the following banks are represented
on Visa's U.S.A. board of directors:
1. Bank of America (2 chairs)
2. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (2 chairs)
3. US Bancorp
4. Wachovia
5. Wells Fargo
6. Providian
7. First National Bank of Nebraska
8. Texas Independent Bancshares
9. National City Corporation
10. SunTrust Bank
11. Merrill Lynch
See also
* Visa Delta
* MasterCard
* American Express
* Discover
See:
• Charge
Card
• Credit
Card
• Debit
Card
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "VISA Credit Card".
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