The ratings on Visa Inc. reflect Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' view of the company's strong global market share, strong franchise in the field of retail electronic payment networks, and relatively low exposure to credit risk. A strong history with negligible financial institutions credit losses to date also supports the ratings assessment. The business is highly scalable and revenues continue to benefit from secular growth of dollar volumes and number of transactions processed through its systems, leading to very strong cash flow even during the global recession. With Visa's reorganization in 2007, the member banks of Visa U.S.A. Inc. agreed to cover the most threatening litigation exposures to Visa under the retrospective responsibility plan. This is a major rating factor,
