Visa U.S.A. Launches 'smart Visa' Product Platform

First USA, FleetBoston and Providian Financial to Offer Visa Cardholders the

Latest in Chip-Enabled Technology

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 2000-- Visa U.S.A., the

nation's largest payment system, today launched its ``smart Visa'' card, a

new, futuristic payment card platform with multi-function capabilities

powered by cutting edge chip technology.

The smart Visa card enables Visa financial institutions to combine the

purchasing power of traditional payment cards with smart chip technology to

offer added security, utility and convenience to consumers. With the growth

in e-commerce, new and technologically-enhanced payment products such as the

smart Visa card will meet the evolving needs of consumers for greater

convenience, control and highly personalized services.

The introduction of smart Visa is part of a broad strategy designed to

provide Visa Issuers with both a brand platform and a technology platform to

significantly increase marketing success while reducing time and cost to

market.

Smart Visa plays an important role in Visa's ongoing programs to position

Visa as the payment brand of choice. The brand platform consists of a

distinctive brand identity system that can be leveraged by Issuers on all

Visa-flagged credit and deposit access products. An aggressive

marketing-communications campaign will generate awareness and understanding

of smart Visa while building a foundation for Issuer marketing campaigns.

The campaign will include national television and online advertising,

content on Visa.com, and ongoing promotions. The technology platform

provides Visa Issuers with a number of pre-packaged applications that can be

readily adapted to fit individual Issuer strategies for smart cards. Working

together, the identity and technology platforms should better enable Visa

Issuers to effectively compete in a rapidly changing marketplace. This fall,

Visa member financial institutions First USA, FleetBoston Financial Corp.

and Providian Financial Corp. will implement Smart Visa card programs with

new chip technology. Visa also is in discussions with other financial

institutions looking to incorporate the technology into their business

strategies. Because smart Visa cards use the Open Platform, Visa will be

able to further collaborate with developers and Member banks to offer

innovative services that will work not only in the physical world, but also

online, and ultimately with mobile phones, PCs, and personal digital

assistants (PDAs).

The smart Visa card product platform will deliver technology now only

available abroad or in select domestic programs in the form of a mainstream

U.S. product offering to provide a combination of web-delivered added value,

additional security, and online shopping enhancements such as form-fill

capability. Used in conjunction with a smart card reader connected to a PC,

smart Visa cards have the ability to provide consumers with secure access to

value-added content on Issuer web sites, to facilitate secure online

payment, and ultimately, to enable cardholders to download enhancements to

their cards via their PCs without ever having to get a new card.

As chip payment technology begins to emerge at physical merchant locations

in the United States, smart Visa cardholders will enjoy benefits of smart

card technology in traditional payment environments as well. Additionally,

smart cards can also store information to add convenience to consumers'

everyday lives, such as the ability to function as electronic keys for a

home, office or car.

``Over the past five years, the evolution of the Internet and impact of

e-commerce has generated an increased demand in the U.S. for payment

products offering enhanced technology and applications,'' said Al Banisch,

senior vice president of Consumer Credit Products, Visa U.S.A. ``Consumers

expect new technologies, with time and convenience being of the utmost

importance. smart Visa delivers tremendous benefits to cardholders,

providing greater security in tandem with financial information, more

efficient online commerce, and highly personalized benefits and services to

simplify their lives.''

Already popular in Europe, smart cards are gaining momentum in the U.S. Visa

has led the chip market globally, as evidenced by the more than 23 million

Visa-branded chip cards currently used worldwide. With the cost of chip

technology decreasing and penetration of home computer usage on the rise,

the potential for smart cards in the U.S. is becoming more of a reality,

offering countless benefits for banks, for merchants and consumers.

Building on the momentum of the recent launch of Visa Direct Exchange, the

world's largest financial payments network using Internet technologies, Visa

continues to deliver new payment options by bringing smart Visa technology

to consumers for fast and secure processing. The smart Visa Program is

another element of Visa's effort to facilitate ``universal commerce'' for

its Members, merchants and consumers, involving all forms of payment

technologies, including the Internet, mobile commerce and other emerging

technologies.

About Visa U.S.A.

Visa U.S.A. is the leading payment brand and the largest payments system in

the United States, with more volume than all other major payment cards

combined. Visa U.S.A. plays a pivotal role in advancing new payment products

and technologies to benefit its 14,000 U.S. member financial institutions

and their cardholders. There are more than 340 million Visa credit,

commercial and check cards, which generate more than $720 billion in annual

transaction volume. Visa-branded cards are accepted at over 19 million

locations worldwide, including some 500,000 ATMs in the Visa/PLUS Global ATM

Network. With more than 80 smart card programs in over 35 countries and on

the Internet, Visa has broad in-market experience and is poised to become

the leader in smart card emerging technology.