On Oct. 28, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'A+' long-term and 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit ratings on payment solutions company Visa Inc. The outlook is stable. The affirmation follows Visa's announcement to settle its antitrust suit with Discover Financial Services Inc. for $1.9 billion. Although we believe this is a material amount, the settlement removes any uncertainty of a highly unpredictable and protracted court case and potential related damage to the company's franchise. Also, Visa USA's member institutions will cover the settlement's cost through the retrospective responsibility plan the company entered when it announced its corporate restructuring in June 2007. The retrospective responsibility plan is a comprehensive suite of protections to cover all (specified) retrospective litigations existing
