Joseph W. Saunders, Chairman and CEO, Visa Inc., said, "Visa and its employees have a deeply rooted concern for the well-being and advancement of all human beings. Although global poverty is a massive issue that Visa cannot conquer alone, we believe that by focusing our philanthropy and expertise in electronic payments toward expanding opportunity to those in need, we can make a meaningful contribution to tackling this global challenge."

The corporate responsibility program launched by Visa today is in the early stages of development. Visa is looking forward to building on this foundation and working closely with its partners to make meaningful progress on its commitment to combating poverty. Areas Visa intends to focus on as it further develops its corporate responsibility efforts include:

An integral part of this commitment is Visa's new partnership with Oxfam America, an international humanitarian relief and development organization that is a highly-respected leader in advancing humanitarian aid, economic development, and poverty alleviation. Visa is making an initial three-year funding commitment to support Oxfam's work on both humanitarian aid and targeted programs devoted to combating poverty.

"Oxfam congratulates Visa on the launch of its new corporate responsibility program. We are pleased to be one of Visa's partners, and to work closely with a company that shares our commitment to address poverty and improve the quality of life for people in some of the poorest communities in the world," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "We look forward to a successful and productive partnership."

In addition to working with Oxfam to address issues globally, Visa also remains focused on helping smaller non-profit groups in developing countries as well as those in the United States.

Saunders added, "We recognize that public ownership comes with a greater responsibility to corporate citizenship. Being a corporate responsibility leader is a critical part of the new Visa, and we are delighted to have this chance to build a program from the ground up and 'go public' with our CSR program at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. We look forward to a productive relationship with CGI, which shares our commitment to finding innovative solutions to address poverty and other significant global challenges."

About Visa: Visa operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.visa.com.