As well as operating many of Australia’s credit cards, VISA, or the VISA International Service Association, is the largest global credit card processor.
Payment processors make credit card transactions possible. They transfer money between consumers and merchants who use different banks. The only alternative for vendors would be maintaining accounts with almost every bank.
VISA was the first foreign credit card provider to penetrate the Australian market taking on the entrenched position of Bankcard, the domestic credit card offered by American banks. Along with their direct competitor MasterCard, VISA offered credit cards in conjunction with Australian banks and credit unions, taking on the then dominant Bankcard. In the middle of the 1980s Bankcard had five million borrowers holding their cards. The foreign cards soon surpassed Bankcard, and Bankcard stopped operations in 2006. VISA started offering debit cards, which are linked with a current account, In the 1990s which competed with the EFTPOS system.
VISA advertises itself as a card able to be used anywhere in the world. It is the largest credit card provider in the world. VISA operates a zero liability policy for unauthorised transactions on VISA credit cards.
May banks unions currently offer VISA cards, and VISA cards are also offered by some of the larger credit unions and building societies. There are a number of different levels of cards according to the fees and the level of service. There is a VISA classic card, gold, platinum and infinite. Infinite cards are invitation only cards with unlimited spending power.
VISA is a Californian company which started trading in 1958 as the Bank of America card. It was not the first bank to attempt to enter the market as many middle class Californians were using lines of credit with various merchants, and a more efficient way of doing this was widely seen as a potential money maker. Until that time no bank that had tried this had sufficient market power.
The new card rolled out in the Californian city of Fresno, as Bank of America dominated the local banking market. Unsolicited and pre-approved cards were sent out by direct mail which was the first time this had been done. VISA is still a Californian company, and it is based in San Francisco.
Until 2008 VISA was jointly owned and controlled by the banks and other institutions that gave out VISA cards. VISA is now a profit making company with a quotation on the New York Stock Exchange.
