VISA SETS GLOBAL STRATEGY TO EVOLVE CORE BUSINESSES USING INNOVATIVE NEW CHIP TECHNOLOGIES PARTNER PROGRAM MIGRATION STRATEGY PROVIDES UNIQUE OPEN ARCHITECTURE, TOOLS FOR BANKS TO CUSTOMIZE PRODUCTS AND CAPITALIZE ON EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES LONDON, March 25 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- Visa International today announced a global migration strategy designed to support its Member financial institutions evolve their core businesses (credit, debit) using chip-based technologies and an industry unique open architecture. Called the Partner Program, Visa's strategy provides banks worldwide with maximum flexibility to customize their own products and services, thus better differentiating their institution's offerings and proprietary brands. Visa is already well underway implementing its Partner Program. The initial elements of the strategy are available for use now and some of the more advanced components will be available at the end of the year. "Bottom line, Visa's new Partner Program helps our Members evolve and expand their card products in a way and at a speed that best fits their needs," said Edmund P. Jensen, president and chief executive officer of Visa International. "Some banks will choose to move gradually in this process, and others will want to harness the power and possibilities of the chip technologies right away. Either way, we see the chip as a core component of the global card payment industry now and into the next millennium. In support of its Members, Visa has taken a leadership role to bring together all of the players in the industry to agree on the common standards that will be the backbone of this new direction. "With every step in this process, Visa will be there as an enabler, supporting our Members in leveraging these developments to maximize the benefits for their customers and shareholders," Jensen said. The Partner Program migration strategy will facilitate the evolution of Visa Members' core business, which for many banks will continue to grow and expand, even as chip technology opens profitable new markets and opportunities. "Through the Partner Program, our Members will be able to customize and differentiate applications on their chip cards, while capitalizing on Visa's leading global acceptance network and brand," said Dennis M Goggin, president and CEO, Visa International, Asia Pacific Region. "Ultimately, this migration strategy is focused on providing Visa Members with the highest level of flexibility, choice and control. Visa Members will have the flexibility to use their payment products as independent applications or in concert with each other. They'll have a wider selection of choices in applications, and in the vendors with whom they can work to develop them. And, most importantly, through the unique open architecture platform and the tools and systems Visa will provide, Members will have much greater control designing the products and services that best meet the needs of their customers," added Goggin. The Partner Program features five components: (1) Set of Applications: A set of payment services, including Visa credit, debit and stored value, that can be combined with Members' proprietary applications, such as a loyalty program or others. (2) Open Technology Platform: A technologically advanced, open chip and terminal architecture, which makes it easy to combine multiple functions on a single card, maximizes space on a chip, has a high-level language that provides a greater degree of security and interoperability, and enables access from a variety of devices. Visa's chip platform is open to allow multiple service providers, terminal manufacturers and application developers to offer financial institutions a choice of compatible products. The technica architecture is based upon the well proven high-level language, Java. It is an open industry standard endorsed by major technology companies that will be used by numerous vendors to assist Members in customizing their products. Java is the basis for an open Application Programming Interface (API) that provides Members with the capacity to dynamically load applications on a chip, independent of the operating system. In the fourth quarter of 1997, Visa will provide the first specifications and implementation reference code based upon JavaCard API. Partners working with Visa today on the development of this open technology platform include JavaSoft, IBM, Gemplus, Schlumberger, VeriFone, Philips, SEMP, Siemens, Integrity Arts, Spyrus and Motorola. (3) Implementation Tools: A group of implementation processes and tools, which allows Members to easily develop and implement their applications for their customers, thereby providing personalized products and strengthening the institution's relationship with the customer. These processes include an application development workbench and personalization tools. (4) Acceptance Infrastructure: A strategy to ensure worldwide acceptance of chip-based cards and to adapt VisaNet, the most comprehensive electronic payments network in the world, to the new strategy. Visa is working with leading terminal manufacturers, such as De La Rue Fortronic and Hypercom, Inc., to develop terminals and access devices to industry and Visa standards. (5) Industry Standards: Standards and operating principles developed to drive industry-wide interoperability. The Partner Program initiatives comply with EMV standards initiated by Visa, MasterCard and Europay related to integrated circuit cards for payment systems. Additionally, Visa is driving development of stored-value and chip platform standards and has established operating rules for all chip-based Visa services. Providing the Partner Program migration strategy has been a natural evolution of Visa's extensive market expertise in the development and implementation, on behalf of its Members, of its chip payment products (debit, credit and stored value). The latter, called Visa Cash, has been successfully introduced in 18 programs in 13 countries around the world (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States), and 11 additional programs are slated to begin in eight new countries within the next 18 months. Additionally, in the United Kingdom, a chip program offering Visa credit or debit and another featuring stored value functionality will be implemented in the fall of 1997. In Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Spain, a chip-based card featuring stored value and debit applications has been launched by a number of Members. In France, a program to test the integration of Electronic Commerce Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) with a French chip card is to be launched this June. In Japan, two chip programs are underway. The first -- a program that will test multiple chip applications, including stored value, on Visa credit cards -- is scheduled to be operational by this October. The second is also a multi-function chip card program that includes Visa credit cards and Visa Cash and will be launched in the Shibuya district of Tokyo in June, 1998. In South Africa, a multi-function chip-based card with credit, debit and stored value products is already under way. The product allows off-line purchase approval and payment processing. A single function chip card will be piloted this summer in Russia. The card will provide a pre-authorized credit or debit spending limit to the customer. Visa is the preferred payment brand and the largest consumer payment system worldwide. It plays a pivotal role in advancing new payment products and technologies to benefit its more than 20,700 member financial institutions, their cardholders and the global economy. Visa's 561 million cards are accepted at more than 13 million worldwide locations, including nearly 323,000 ATMs in the Visa Global ATM Network. Visa's Internet address is www.visa.com. SOURCE Visa International CONTACT: Paul Lewis, 65-437-5509, or Jeff Perlman, 65-437-5513, both of Visa International