Visa operates the Visa payment network but does not issue most Visa cards or extend most card credit.
Visa’s origins date to Bank of America’s BankAmericard program, launched in 1958. The network later became Visa, and Visa Inc. became a publicly traded company in 2008. Its system connects consumers, merchants, banks, and other financial institutions around electronic payments.
Banks and other financial institutions typically issue Visa-branded cards and decide matters such as credit limits, interest rates, and fees. Visa provides the network and processes transactions, earning fees associated with payment volume. This asset-light model helped the company become one of the world’s most valuable financial-services businesses by market capitalization.
The distinction matters because people often treat Visa as a bank or lender. Visa’s central role is payment-network operation; the issuing bank usually carries the customer’s credit relationship.