Visa International

Visa operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network and is one of the most recognized global financial services brands. Visa facilitates global commerce through the transfer of value and information among merchants, consumers, businesses, government entities and financial institutions, who develop and offer credit, charge, deferred debit, prepaid and cash access programs to cardholders. Visa's card platforms provide consumers, businesses, merchants and government entities with a secure, convenient and reliable way to pay and be paid in 170 countries and territories, with more than US$3.48 trillion of payments and cash volume as of June 30, 2007. Visa cards are accepted at more than 29 million merchant outlets worldwide and 1 million ATMs. Visa's global transaction and information processing network, VisaNet, supports these payment platforms and delivers value-added services, including fraud and risk management, dispute resolution, rewards and other business-enhancing applications. As well as offering these services in Africa, Visa's corporate social investment programme includes innovative payment mechanisms to help "bank the unbanked, and financial literacy programmes.