Visa Contactless, Based on Industry Standards, Offers Convenience and Speed to Cardholders and Added Volume to Members and Merchants

SAN FRANCISCO, February 24, 2005–Visa USA announced today it has completed the development of its contactless payment platform and is ready to begin deployment of this new payment feature on Visa cards in the U.S. market. The platform is designed to deliver speed and convenience by making the purchase process faster and easier, while offering all the same security protections the industry has come to expect from the leader in payments.

Visa’s Contactless employs industry-standard technology to deliver a secure application specific to the payments marketplace that transmits payment information over extremely short distances to a contactless reader at the point of sale. To use, cardholders simply hold their card briefly near a secure reader at checkout, instead of swiping it. All other aspects of the contactless transaction are handled in the same way as a traditional Visa transaction.

“After successful trials in several regions of the world, we feel we have the right solution and this is the right time for Visa to make contactless technology available in the U.S. market,” said Elizabeth Buse, executive vice president, product development and management, Visa USA. “We want to make sure our Members and merchants have the ability to offer current innovations to their customers, if they choose to do so.”

Visa USA advocates that the industry adopt a brand-neutral contactless indicator to identify contactless cards, key fobs and devices, and to convey to cardholders where contactless cards are accepted. This will simplify the point of sale for merchants and will allow financial institutions to brand their contactless programs as needed.

About Visa

Visa is the world’s leading payment brand and largest payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumer and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives. Nearly 21,000 financial institutions worldwide rely on Visa-branded products to generate $3.2 trillion in card volume. Cardholders in more than 150 countries carry more than 1.3 billion Visa-branded cards, accepted at millions of locations worldwide. Within the United States, nearly 14,000 financial institutions issue 430 million Visa cards, accounting for more than $1 trillion in annual transaction volume. Visa offers a trusted, reliable, and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources–anytime, anywhere, anyway.