Bank of America Ponders Leaving Visa
Mark Calvey writes for the San Francisco Business Times about Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis' repeated recent comments that the bank is considering the possibility of leaving Visa and creating its own credit card network.
"Our mission is to deliver an exceptional value to all financial institutions large and small, and our long-standing partnership with Bank of America is no exception," said Rosetta Jones, a vice president at Visa USA.Editor's Note: Ironically, Bank of America owns slightly over six percent of MasterCard - which is expected to go public later this year. As part of that public offering, MasterCard will be redeeming a portion of the shares currently held by its member banks (including Bank of America). As a result, Bank of America is probably expecting to receive a sizable one-time payment from MasterCard for a significant portion of its shares. Might that cash be used to help fund a Bank of America-proprietary network? Fascinating."We believe that the safety, reliability and affordability that Visa offers financial institutions contribute greatly to their success in electronic payments. Our focus will remain on delivering a global payments network that connects millions of banks and businesses and customers quickly, cost-effectively and securely every second of every day," Jones said.
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