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Visa has been at the forefront of electronic payments since its inception. From the first revolving credit card platform to neural networks and mobile payments, Visa has pioneered the growth and development of this fast-moving industry. Visa’s payment platforms are increasingly the backbone of global commerce, enabling the swift and secure transfer of value and information among financial institutions, individuals, businesses and government entities.

1958 – Bank of America launches the BankAmericard in Fresno, Calif., with an innovative “revolving credit” feature.

1970 – Visa is incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1970 as National BankAmericard Inc. (NBI).

1973 – NBI launches the first electronic authorization system, followed a year later by an electronic clearing and settlement system, the precursor to VisaNet.

1974 – The International Bankcard Company (IBANCO) is formed to administer the BankAmericard program internationally.

1976 – BankAmericard changes its name to Visa – a simple, memorable name that is pronounced the same in every language – and adopts the blue-and-gold flag.

1983 – Building on its “anytime, anywhere” promise, Visa launches a global ATM network, providing 24-hour cash access to cardholders around the world and contributing to the convenience of modern business and leisure travel.

1986 – Visa becomes the first payment card system to offer multiple-currency clearing and settlement, providing financial institutions with faster restitution methods and greatly increasing transaction efficiency.

1993 – Visa is the first to apply state-of-the-art neural network technologies to payments, potentially reducing the incidence of card fraud by giving Visa member banks smarter and timelier data about suspicious transactions. In the same year, Visa offers the first international prepaid card, Visa TravelMoney.

1995 – Visa co-develops industry-wide chip card specifications, Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV), to ensure that all chip cards will operate with all chip-reading terminals.

1997 – Visa’s annual global sales volume reaches US$1 trillion, a significant milestone for the payments industry.

1999 – Visa conducts the first euro transaction using a payment card.

2001 – Visa’s annual global sales volume reaches the US$2 trillion milestone.

2004 – Visa’s global debit volume surpasses credit.

2005 – Visa updates its brand identity with a new look to better reflect new payment opportunities, such as mobile and contactless.

2007 – Visa launches the Visa mobile platform, a business and technology framework for facilitating the adoption of mobile payments and value-added services.

2007 – Visa announces the completion of the company’s corporate restructuring, creating a new global corporation called Visa Inc.

2008 – Visa completes the largest initial public offering in U.S. history and begins trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “V.”