Visa
The network behind billions of card payments.
52-week range
As of 5 Oct 2026, 17:07What does Visa do?
San Francisco-based Visa doesn’t issue cards or lend money itself. Banks do that. Visa runs the network that moves a payment from your bank to the merchant and charges a small fee for each one. It earns especially well when payments cross borders, for example on holiday or when you shop online from abroad. The split shows revenue before incentives paid to banks.
From the Visa logo on your credit card or on the debit card many German banks now issue with a current account.
How Visa makes money
- Processing payments36 %
- Fees based on payment volume31 %
- Cross-border payments25 %
- Other (e.g. data, consulting)7 %
Strengths
- Visa is accepted in more than 200 countries, a network that is almost impossible to copy.
- Visa carries no credit risk: if a customer defaults, the bank pays, not Visa.
- Very high margins, because each extra payment costs almost nothing.
Risks
- In the US and the EU, card fees are under pressure from regulators and politicians.
- New payment methods such as instant transfers or Wero in Europe could replace cards.
- When people travel and shop less, revenue falls. There is also dollar risk.
- Founded
- 1958
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California
- Employees
- about 34,000
What if you had invested in Visa earlier?
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