| Mastercard | Visa | Website: | MasterCard.com | Visa.com | Products: | Payment systems | Payment systems | Type: | Public | Public | Industry: | Financial services | Financial services | Key people: | Richard N. Haythornthwaite, (Chairman), Ajay Banga, (President & CEO) | Joseph Saunders (Chairman and CEO) John Partridge (President) Byron Pollitt (CFO) | Introduction: | MasterCard Worldwide (NYSE:MA) is an American multinational corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters in Harrison, New York, United States. | Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is an American global payments technology company headquartered in Foster City, California. Visa connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories. | Revenue: | US$6.714 Billion (FY 2011) | US$9.188 Billion (FY 2011) | Net income: | US$1.906 Billion (FY 2011) | US$3.528 Billion (FY 2011) | Headquarters: | New York | San Francisco | Employees: | 6,700 | 7,500 | Operating income: | US$2.713 Billion (FY 2011) | US$5.456 Billion (FY 2011) | Founded: | 1966 | 1970 | Total assets: | US$10.693 Billion (FY 2011) | US$34.760 Billion (FY 2011) | Total equity: | US$5.877 Billion (FY 2011) | US$26.437 Billion (FY 2011) |
Summary
VISA (Visa International Service Association) and MasterCard are bothpayment processing institutions that are owned by thousands of participating financial institutions that issue and market VISA and MasterCard products (mainly credit and debit cards).
Both companies have similar products. Other financial institutions (mostlybanks) issue cards that use either VISA or MasterCard for processing payments. So if you are comparing VISA and MasterCard to decide which card to go for, it may be a good idea to look at the features of the specific card (not the brand). The most important features, of course, are Interest rate and Annual fees.
The competitors of VISA