“These results represent Visa’s commitment to solidify its industry leadership, making Visa the nearest thing the world now has to a global currency,” said Eduardo Eraña, President of Visa International, Latin America and Caribbean Region. “To buld on this success, Visa and our Member Financial Institutions will continue to work together to make Visa so preferred by customers that it becomes synonymous with payment systems.”

Brazil and Mexico continue to be the leading markets in the Region with US$71 billion and US$59 billion in sales volume respectively. The markets that showed the greatest increase in purchase volume were Dominican Republic with 46% and Panama with 32%.

While Latin American figures continue to grow, Visa global sales volume experienced double-digit increase of 17%, exceeding US$2.3 trillion for the year ending June 30, 2002. The number of global transactions were 32 billion, which represents a 15% increase.

Retail sales using a Visa card now account for 7% of global personal consumer expenditure (PCE), the largest percentage by any single payment organization. Visa expects to increase this figure to at least 12% by 2010. Personal consumer expenditure represents the market value of all goods and services purchased by households and non-profit institutions, excluding house purchases. Today global PCE is at US$19 trillion and is comprised primarily of cash and check payments. In Latin America, Visa also increased its PCE market penetration to 3.47%.

“It is very encouraging that, despite the downturn in the global economy over the past year, we continue to see strong double-digit growth, which reflects the value and convenience of electronic payments, ” said Malcolm Williamson, President and CEO of Visa International. “We are confident that we can obtain a 12% share of personal consumer expenditure by the end of the decade.”

Two major areas that have shown significant growth for Visa, particularly in Latin America, are the debit and commercial product categories. While Visa’s global debit card transactions grew at over twice the rate of Visa credit card transactions, the Latin America and Caribbean Region experienced remarkable growth at the point of sale. The regional debit purchase volume grew 43% and 66% in the number of transactions during the year ending June 30, 2002.

On the other hand, Visa’s commercial payment and information management solutions generated US$1.5 billion sales volume in Latin America during the same period. This represents a 32% increase over the year before. Visa’s commercial products are designed to help boost business and increase government efficiency, control and convenience.

Worldwide, there are currently over 1.2 billion Visa payment cards accepted at more than 29 million physical locations including 800,000 ATMs. In the region, the number of Visa payment cards are nearly 130 million and are accepted at more than 2 million physical locations and nearly 58,000 ATMs.

About Visa:

Visa is the world’s leading payment brand. Visa-branded cards generate more than US$2.3 trillion in annual volume and are accepted at more than 29 million physical locations around the world, including more than 800,000 ATMs. The Visa organization plays a pivotal role in developing innovative payment products and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders. Visa is a leader in Internet based payments and is pioneering the creation of u-commerce, or universal commerce - the ability to conduct commerce anywhere, anytime, and any way. For more information about Visa International, Latin America & Caribbean Region, visit www.visalatam.com.