Visa's company history
Origins of Visa date back to the late 1950s, when Bank of America introduced BankAmericard, and mailed out 60,000 unsolicited credit cards. This was the first consumer credit card program that middle class consumers had at their fingers in the US, and by 1974 the company expanded overseas. The introduction of debits cards same about soon after, in 1975.
During the 1970s, BankAmericard went on to become an independent entity, after uniting under the common Visa brand later. During the same period, Visa introduced VisaNet, which was the first completely electronic authorization, clearing, and settlement system, enabling transactions in a matter of seconds.
Until 2007, Visa operated as a bunch of entities owned by regional banks around the world. It was only in 2007 that the US, Canada, Caribbean, Latin America, Central Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific regions came together to form Visa Inc. In March 2008, this company went public, and it remains amongst the most successful IPOs of all time. In 2013, the company introduced Visa Checkout, an online payment system that eliminates the need of sharing of payment details with merchants.
As of now, Visa has operations in more than 200 countries and territories, and it provides services across multiple platforms like debit and credit cards, desktop and laptop computers, as well as smartphones. Getting a Visa credit card can simplify how you access money, no matter where you are. Since there are numerous options, make sure you look for one in accordance to features that’ll serve you best, and watch out for unnecessarily high fees.