Visa Inc. to Make Operating Regulations Available to the Public

"As Visa continues to evolve to meet the needs of customers, we are committed to providing our partners and interested parties with greater insight into Visa's operations," says Joseph W. Saunders, Chairman and CEO, Visa Inc. "Greater transparency is one of the ways we hope to strengthen our working relationships in the marketplace."

Previously, Visa Inc. made its Visa USA Operating Regulations available to merchants and third party agents under a non-disclosure agreement. On May 15, Visa's rules will be publicly available to interested parties, including all Visa rules related to merchants' participation in the system. However, to protect cardholder and merchant safety and the Visa system, Visa has omitted proprietary and competitive information, as well as certain details from the rules relating to the security of the network. For example, in the merchant rules, Visa has omitted authorization limits by country and processing codes which could aid fraudsters.

"Today's announcement builds on our commitment to making Visa transparent in an increasingly competitive environment," adds Saunders. "While our operating regulations only govern our client financial institutions, we believe that merchants and others will benefit from access to the rules, which provide a greater understanding of the complexities of electronic payments."