Visa Teams with ICBA Bancard to Bring Real-Time Visa Offers Programs to Community Banks

Program for community banks will connect their customers with location-based merchant offers and discounts

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 5, 2013-- Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and ICBA Bancard^® today announced an initiative to bring local, community-based offers programs to ICBA Bancard member institutions. The program will deploy Visa Offers capabilities to connect participating member institutions and their Visa account holders with unique merchant offers, discounts and other loyalty programs relevant to their interests and communities. By bringing both national and local merchant offers to community bank customers, the Visa Offers program will help increase the relevance and value of Visa offerings to customers as they shop in their local community and transact on the go.

Visa Offers allows financial institutions and merchants to deliver individually tailored offers based on shopping behavior and purchase location to consumers who have opted in to the program. The platform supports Visa’s commitment to enable retailers and financial institutions of all sizes to deliver customized and differentiated offers to Visa cardholders at the point-of-sale.

“Community banks are vital financial partners to millions of Americans and are important Visa clients,” said William Sheedy, Global Executive, Visa. “We are committed to customizing Visa’s products and services, such as Visa Offers, to help our partners provide the greatest value to their customers in ways that are both scalable for their business and relevant to their local communities. Importantly, this initiative with ICBA Bancard will help inform and develop other community bank programs that can further enable these institutions to grow and meet the unique needs of their customers.”

“This partnership with Visa will enable us to create a program that is relevant to our members and their customers and that meets the demand for both local and national merchant offers to reach consumers,” said Noah Wilcox, chairman of ICBA Bancard and president and CEO of Grand Rapids State Bank in Grand Rapids, Minn. “We’re excited to work with Visa on this initiative and appreciate their commitment to providing cutting-edge programs, technology and services to support community banks across the country.”

The program introduction is planned for later this year and is expected to include several ICBA Bancard member institutions. As the program is expanded and refined in the coming months, ICBA Bancard will offer the service to its broader community bank membership base.

About Visa Inc.: Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world’s most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About ICBA Bancard: ICBA Bancard is the wholly owned payment services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America. ICBA Bancard provides community banks with equitable access to cutting edge credit card options, debit card options, ATM and merchant processing solutions as well as exclusive services including the Fraud Loss Protection Plan, portfolio consultations and portfolio analytical tools. For more information, visit the ICBA Bancard website at www.icbabancard.com or call (800) 242-4770.

Source: Visa Inc.

Visa Inc.:
Global Corporate Relations
Ryan Donovan, 650-432-2990
globalmedia@visa.com