Visa Executive Optimistic Despite Litigation

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Despite a major class action lawsuit on interchange, the rise in organized fraud rings and lingering litigation with American Express and Discover, Elizabeth Buse, executive vice president with Visa USA, said the No. 1 card brand still looked to a bright and growing future. Buse spoke to credit union card executive attendees at the Card Services For Credit Unions annual meeting and described many different approaches the card brand is using to keep its business going. For example, she said, despite being sued by some retailers upset with the card brand’s interchange policies, 400,000 new retailers which had never accepted Visa in the past started accepting the brand last year, a 7% increase over the number in 2004. “We are not abandoning the work of growing merchant acceptance,” she said. She also highlighted the brand’s work to bring its PLUS ATM network into its fraud protection web, a development which would make all transactions, whether validated by a cardholder’s signature or personal identification number, subject to fraud protections.