It all started with a vision – to provide a highly optimized mode of payment to consumers, businesses, and governments around the world. The VISA platform has grown exponentially over the last fifty years and today, the technology VisaNet, a proprietary transaction processing network, connects 2 billion cards, millions of merchant outlets, 2 million ATMs, and more than 15,000 financial institutions located in all corners of the globe.
VISA offers a wide range of payment products and services. Their branded credit and debit cards and other products for commercial, prepaid, mobile, and money transfers are the preferred choices of cardholders and financial institutions in over 200 countries. In the present environment of an increasingly mobile society, VisaNet delivers the latest innovations to consumers in the sphere of mobile financial services like money transfer, mobile payments, and similar top-up services.
The Growth of the VISA network
One of the first electronic card authorization systems in the world was created by VISA in the early 1970s. Since then, the company has invested billions of dollars to ensure that it remained ahead of the rising demand for reliable and secured electronic payments. Over the years, VISA has innovated cutting-edge technologies to provide consumers with increasing efficiencies for information gathering and global connectivity. Now, it is the leaders in this field with synchronized state-of-the-art data centers that are interconnected with 1,600 secure network endpoints and linked by over 1.2 million miles of fiber-optic lines. Mind-boggling statistics by any yardstick!
VISA Product Benefits and Services
There are several VISA products’ benefits and services which may be categorized as follows.
Transaction Processing Services
• VISA processes more than 150 million transactions in 175 currencies every day
• Global leaders in merchant acceptance of VISA as a form of payment
• A technologically advanced and automated dispute resolution system that minimizes time and cost to process doubtful transactions.
Risk Management Services
• Secured and safe services with built-in guards against thefts, frauds, and unauthorized use for acquirers, issuers, and merchants.
• Multiple layers of safeguards against data misuse and theft with real-time fraud scoring
• Very low incidence of fraud due to a well-managed system. Despite massive increases in network volume, fraud is limited to an average of six cents for every $100 transacted on VISA products
Information Services
• Transforming VISA transaction data into business intelligence and information on which action can be taken.
• Enriching cardholder experience and assisting organizations to make highly considered procurement decisions, and maximizing businesses processes and revenue generation
• Enabling banks and merchants to provide customized cardholder rewards and send alerts for VISA transactions directly to customers through SMS text.
• Empowering both businesses and governments to manage expenditures optimally as it is easy to make sure that funds reach where it should, thereby avoiding potential fraud, abuse, and waste.
The VISA advantage of electronic payments has led to businesses and individuals reducing their dependence on cash and paper-based payments, leading to a more secure fiscal system.
