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Visa company history timeline

1959

And at first, the test went well, and by March 1959, the test expanded to San Francisco and Sacramento, and by June, they were dropping offers in Los Angeles.

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.

By the end of 1959 more than two million cards had been mailed across California and more than 20,000 merchants accepted the card.

1961

By May 1961, the BankAmericard program became profitable for the first time.

1965

In 1965 Hock began working for National Bank of Commerce in Seattle, eventually becoming assistant vice-president.

1968

In 1968, a manager at the National Bank of Commerce (later Rainier Bancorp), Dee Hock, was asked to supervise that bank's launch of its own licensed version of BankAmericard in the Pacific Northwest market.

1970

In June 1970, Bank of America gave up control of the BankAmericard program.

The company was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Foster City, CA.“

By 1970, over 1,400 banks offered one of the two cards, and total consumer charges on the cards amounted to $3.8 billion.

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.

1973

In 1973, National BankAmericard launched the precursor to VisaNet.

That protocol, which Visa created in 1973, allows the transfers of payments between merchants and consumers.

1974

By 1972, licenses had been granted in 15 countries. As a result, in 1974, the International Bankcard Company (IBANCO), a multinational member corporation, was founded in order to manage the international BankAmericard program.

1975

1975: First Debit Card

1975 The first debit card is launched.

1976

The directors of IBANCO decided in 1976 that uniting the numerous international networks into a single global network with one name would be in the corporation’s best interests.

In 1976, Bank of America and the card's licensees formed a new corporate structure for the card under the Visa name.

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.

1977

In 1977 BankAmericard was renamed the Visa card.

1979

1979 The first Visa Travelers Cheques are issued in four currencies.

Also in 1979, Visa management began to encourage merchants to use an electronic transaction-authorizing system whenever a purchase was made with the card.

1983

1983: Cash around the clock

By 1983, the market share proportions of each company had reversed, with Visa's billings amounting to $59 billion and MasterCard's billings to $42 billion.

1984

Dee W. Hock retired as president of Visa in 1984 and was succeeded by Charles T. Russell, vice-president and longtime employee of the company.

Already managing the California-based Interlink network of transactions since 1984, Visa was ahead of the competition in the burgeoning point-of-sale business.

1986

1986 Visa develops multiple-currency clearing and settlement in 21 currencies.

Visa joined with the PLUS ATM network in 1986, offering its cardholders easy access to cash.

In 1986 Visa and MasterCard took a 73 percent share of the $275 billion worldwide charge card market, and their combined transactions totaled $3.9 billion, far more than any other financial services company.

1987

In January 1987 Visa won a contract to operate Interlink, the largest retailer, or point-of-sale (POS), network that accepted debit cards in restaurants and stores in the United States.

1988

1988 Visa sponsors its first Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, and the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, Alberta.

1989

1989 Visa adds electronic signature capability with the acquisition of Interlink.

1993

1993 Visa is the first to apply state-of-the-art neutral network technologies to payments aiming to reduce card fraud.

Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.

The Plus System was acquired completely by Visa in 1993.

1994

In 1994 the company acquired Interlink, which provided Visa with an online banking service it could offer around the world.

BofA itself (like all other United States banks at the time) could not expand directly into other states due to federal restrictions not repealed until 1994.

1995

1995 Visa check card debuts and Visa co-creates EMV, an industry chip card specification that ensures interoperability between all chip-enabled cards and terminals.

1996

1996 Visa’s first financial literacy program launches.

In a 1996 Fast Company article, many of Hock’s beliefs were made clear.

When the battle for market share refocused in Western Europe, Visa attempted to introduce a similar bylaw for its European member banks in 1996.

1997

In August 1997 Visa began the world's largest pilot program for secure electronic commerce using the SET protocol.

Yahoo canceled the agreement in September 1997, costing them $20.5 million.

Visa’s total payments volume reaches US $4.4 trillion, surpassing the previous $1 trillion milestone set in 1997.

Worldwide consumer purchases made with Visa reached around $1 trillion in 1997.

Consumers could load money onto the card by transferring money from a checking account to the card at an ATM. To encourage member banks to transfer from magnetic stripe cards to the new technology, Visa instituted the Partner Program in 1997.

1998

With around 600 million cards in circulation as of 1998, Visa boasted the most widely recognized general purpose payment card in the world.

In a 1998 trial by Citibank and Chase Manhattan on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, consumers rarely loaded their cards a second time. "Smart cards are a technology chasing a business case," Richard Speer, CEO of the financial consulting firm Speer & Associates, told the New York Times in 1998.

2001

2001: One billion cards

2002

Among other initiatives, in 2002 Visa launched “Verified by Visa,” a program designed to enhance the security of online purchasing by requiring a password (chosen by the cardholder and registered with the bank that issued the Visa card) before the completion of any purchase.

2004

2004 Visa’s total debit volume surpasses total global credit volume.

2004 Visa introduces Advanced Authorization, which analyzes and assigns a risk score to every Visa transaction in real-time.

2005

On October 11, 2005, Visa announced it would merge some of its business and become a public company, Visa, Inc.

In 2005, however, both Visa and MasterCard were implicated in a high-profile security breach at CardSystems Solutions, a small, third-party payment processor in Tucson, Arizona, which left the accounts of some 40 million cardholders (most of them Visa and MasterCard) exposed to fraud.

2006

On October 11, 2006, Visa announced that some of its businesses would be merged and become a publicly traded company, Visa Inc.

In 2006, Visa is a private membership association jointly owned by over 20,000 member financial institutions worldwide.

2007

In October 2007, Bank of America announced it was resurrecting the BankAmericard brand name as the "BankAmericard Rewards Visa".

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.

On October 3, 2007, Visa completed its corporate restructuring with the formation of Visa Inc.

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 on the New York Stock Exchange.

2008

Since going public on March 19, 2008 -- just five days after JPMorgan Chase offered to buy what was left of Bear Stearns -- Visa's returns have trounced the market! Nor do the company's shares show any sign of slowing down either as, year-to-date, Visa's stock price is up 22%.

2008 Visa launches the Visa mobile platform to speed the adoption of mobile payments and value-added services.

2008 The “V” ticker symbol appears on the N.Y. Stock Exchange as Visa becomes the largest initial public offering in United States history.

2009

2009 Visa’s first global ad campaign celebrates how people everywhere need a better way to pay for the things they need and want.

2015

Visa Inc. announced the plan to acquire Visa Europe on November 5, 2015, creating a single global company.

2016

The acquisition of Visa Europe was completed on June 21, 2016.

2019

In 2019, debt cards passed cash as the number one form of payment in the United States, and that habit is only accelerating even more since the pandemic began.

2020

In December 2020, Visa Announced the launch of a new accelerator program across Asia Pacific to further develop the region's financial technology ecosystem.

2021

On February 3, 2021, Visa announced a partnership with First Boulevard, a neobank focused on building generational wealth for the Black community.

On March 29, 2021, Visa announced the acceptance of stable coin USDC to settle transactions on its network.

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Visa competitors

Company NameFounded DateRevenueEmployee SizeJob Openings
Mastercard1966$1.8T25,000457
Citi1812$74.3B210,0004,558
The Vanguard Group1975$6.9B17,60097
Bloomberg1981$10.0B20,000484
AT&T1983$120.7B230,0003,591
TheStreet1996$62.5M800-
American Express1850$36.1B63,700706
MarketWatch1997$10.5M246-
Discover1985$13.0B17,600332
Cybersource1994$760.0M50-

Visa history FAQs

Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Visa, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Visa. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Visa. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Visa. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Visa and its employees or that of Zippia.

Visa may also be known as or be related to VISA INC., Visa, Visa Inc, Visa Inc. and visa u.s.a. inc.