Visa, one of the world’s largest companies by market cap, was originally established by Bank of America under the name BankAmericard.
Bank of America launched BankAmericard in California in 1958. It was one of the first general-purpose credit cards to offer revolving credit, allowing customers to carry a balance rather than paying the entire amount immediately. The program later expanded through a network of participating banks.
In 1976, the international network adopted the name Visa. The change created a more neutral global identity and separated the card network from the name of one U.S. bank. Visa later became an independent public company, while continuing to operate as a payments network rather than a conventional lending bank.
Master Charge, later Mastercard, was a competing network and is not Visa’s original name.