Visa Inc. operates the Visa payment network but generally does not issue cardholders’ accounts.
Visa traces its history to Bank of America’s BankAmericard program, launched in California in 1958. The program expanded through licensing and became an international payment system. In 1976, the brand adopted the name Visa, which was intended to work across languages and markets.
Visa’s network connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and payment processors. Banks and other issuers typically provide Visa-branded credit or debit accounts, while merchants’ acquiring banks connect businesses to the network. Visa processes authorization and settlement messages but is not normally the lender behind a customer’s card balance.
This network model distinguishes Visa from American Express, which has traditionally operated more directly as both a card network and issuer. Mastercard uses a broadly similar network-based structure to Visa. The businesses can look alike to consumers even though their institutional roles are not identical.