Processing services

Visa’s systems connect billions of cardholders with millions of retailers and thousands of banks. We are part of one of the biggest communications networks in the world.

That same technology provides the platform to keep every transaction safe, to support new and innovative ways to pay, to speed up transaction times even as volume grows and, above all, to ensure that wherever you are and whatever you are buying, paying by Visa works.

In July 2011 alone, authorisations exceeded €55 billion in value, and we settled more than a billion transactions.

Every day, our systems are keeping the money moving by:

  • Routing and approving millions of authorisation requests – each one delivered in the blink of an eye.
  • Clearing and settling funds between European banks – calculating what each of the Visa members in Europe owes to each other, right down to the last Euro cent.
  • Standing in on behalf of our members when things go wrong, for example, making authorisation decisions on their behalf.
  • Supporting other services such as cardholder authentication, fraud screening, and transaction storage and retrieval.

Annual Report 2011

Our latest Annual Report is available to download or view online

View the Annual Report
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