continues to make solid progress towards chip migration in key Asia Pacific markets. Thirty Visa members are implementing EMV chip programs, more than ten million Visa EMV cards have been issued in Asia Pacific, and over 70,000 EMV point-of-sale terminals have been deployed in eight markets regionally. In each of these areas, Visa is the clear market leader in Asia Pacific.

Visa has also achieved significant progress with chip in a number of

areas, including:

* Low cost Visa smart cards and acceptance devices<br />
* Development of new chip technology<br />
* Assistance with member and national chip implementations<br />
* Undertaking comprehensive chip training programs<br /><br />

Visa Asia Pacific's goal is to establish a comprehensive EMV chip

infrastructure in Asia Pacific by 2008.

Bruce Mansfield, Regional Head of Chip Implementation for Visa Asia Pacific, said, “Smart cards are fast becoming a reality in Asia Pacific. We have more than doubled the number of EMV chip cards issued two years in a row. The pace of growth will accelerate as more financial institutions understand the value of using chip technology. Smart cards offer a long-term solution to the problem of fraud on payment cards while providing additional advantages through value-added programs.”

Visa Lowers Cost of Smart Cards and Acceptance Devices<br />
Together with financial institutions, technology and industry partners,

Visa Asia Pacific has been working to build a firm foundation for chip migration and introduced a number of major initiatives to support member banks in their smart card programs.

To date, an entire family of low cost Visa smart cards is available, ranging from entry-level, single application payment cards to multi- application, Java-based GlobalPlatform cards. Prices start from less than US$1.00. Globally, 20 million cards have been issued under the Visa Smart Card Program, saving members US$50 to US$60 million.

In addition, banks are being offered a new family of low cost Visa Smart Devices that support EMV and these cost effective chip-reading point-of-sale devices now start from US$205 each (FOB ex-factory).

Mansfield said, “With the Visa Smart Card and Device Program, we are lowering the costs of smart cards and fully supporting our member banks’ efforts by driving the cost of point-of-sale devices to a new level. The prices we have negotiated for EMV chip-reading devices represent significant savings for our member banks who wish to update their existing magnetic stripe terminals to chip technology.”

New Chip Technology<br />
Significant progress continues to be made developing chip technology and

providing additional functionality, with GlobalPlatform quickly establishing itself as the standard for smart cards in key industries such as government, telecommunications, payments, retail, insurance, health card and transit. The major initiatives currently underway in the area of chip include:

* GlobalPlatform: GlobalPlatform specifications take smart cards to
  a new height by making it easy for software developers to create
  non-financial programs such as loyalty or identification, network
  access, PC access, transit and other functions -- that can reside with
  Visa's credit or debit payment on a single card.  GlobalPlatform uses
  Java Card, allowing developers to write programs in Java that will run
  on any of the card manufacturers' operating systems.  This enables
  financial institutions to cost-effectively issue smart cards with Visa
  credit and debit accounts plus a range of additional programs, giving
  customers value-added applications.  With more than 160 million
  GlobalPlatform cards issued worldwide and more than 15 million in the
  payments industry, support for GlobalPlatform continues to gain
  momentum.<br /><br />

* Combi cards: Visa's GlobalPlatform combi-cards, combining contact and
  contactless interfaces on a single chip card, continue to drive EMV
  card issuance programs in some countries, and provide an ideal platform
  for a strong consumer proposition by incorporating payment and other
  value-added application, such as mass transit and loyalty.  In Korea,
  the combination of Visa Smart Debit/Credit with contactless ticketing
  has resulted in the selection of Visa Cash as the solution for Daejon
  City.  Hana Bank plans to issue 1.2 million Visa combi cards starting
  this April.<br /><br />

* New multi-interface combi card with support for FeliCa: Visa recently
  announced a joint working relationship with Sony Corporation and
  Infineon Technologies for the development of a single-chip
  multi-application GlobalPlatform chip product that supports Visa Smart
  Debit/ Credit payment alongside contactless applications based on
  Sony's FeliCa technology, as well as ISO 14443 type A and type B
  interfaces.  This development will make it easier for members to
  implement value-added applications such as mass transit, loyalty
  and e-purse on Visa payment cards.  The new A/B/FeliCa GlobalPlatform
  combi-card will be available in the second half of 2003.<br /><br />

* Contactless payment: Visa has developed a new global payment
  specification that removes the need to physically insert a smart card
  into a reader.  Based on the international standard ISO 14443, the new
  contactless payment specification will support a faster and more
  convenient way to pay and be paid, particularly in environments where
  access to traditional, card-based payment methods has been limited.
  The first use of this new contactless specification is expected to be
  in Korea, where SK Telecom plans to develop mobile products based on
  the Visa specifications.  SK Telecom and Visa have been working
  together since April 2002 to test the viability of infrared payment for
  mobile phone users.  Chip-enabled phones and 65,000 merchant
  point-of-sale devices have been upgraded to support both contactless
  and infrared technology.<br /><br />

National Chip Implementations<br />
Visa delivers smarter ways to conduct transactions.  The various national

migration programs within Asia Pacific have facilitated greater advances in developing a common, interoperable card and device infrastructure through the ability to set a direction and manage issues at a national level. Visa’s efforts have been paid off in a number of successful smart card programs. These include:

* Australia/New Zealand: ANZ Bank has issued more than 400,000
  EMV-compliant Visa cards and deployed 35,000 EMV terminals and we
  expect further good progress to be made in the coming year.<br /><br />

* Japan: All major members in Japan are now active with EMV chip card
  issuance, with more than 7 million cards in circulation.  More than
  10% of Visa cards in Japan now carry an EMV chip.<br /><br />

* Korea: Visa members in Korea are leading in innovative EMV-based
  multi-application programs with transit and telecommunication
  industries.  Five Visa members and SK Telecom have collectively issued
  1.1 million Moneta EMV chip cards and are now issuing GlobalPlatform
  chips on mobile handsets known as 'Moneta Plus' phones.  Korea has also
  established a modern EMV certification lab recently.<br /><br />

* Malaysia: Malaysia was an early adopter of smart cards through two
  government-sponsored programs.  Visa's members in Malaysia have also
  embarked on national EMV chip migration activities.  Several Visa
  members will issue Visa EMV cards and deploy Visa EMV point-of-sale
  terminals in 2003.<br /><br />

* Taiwan: Five Visa members have commenced full rollout of EMV chip cards
  and five others are piloting chip programs.  Taiwan's National Credit
  Card Center (NCCC) achieved certification for processing Visa smart
  cards through VisaNet.  NCCC will offer its 37 Visa members in Taiwan
  the ability to migrate payments from traditional magnetic stripe cards
  to smart cards.  The major acquirers in Taiwan have also made the
  necessary changes to support chip payments and we expect the market to
  migrate the POS infrastructure over the next 18 months.<br /><br />

Visa's Chip Training Programs Upgrade Industry Knowledge<br />
Visa Asia Pacific has been conducting a series of EMV training courses and

workshops targeting members who are committed to chip migration in markets including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and Taiwan.

These programs are conducted by world-class chip specialists and cover a comprehensive range of topics on EMV chip migration, including strategic business planning, EMV implementation, as well as GlobalPlatform and application development. Since the introduction of the courses two years ago, more than 500 participants from 150 member banks and vendor organizations have attended and benefited from these workshops. With such overwhelming response from the industry, Visa anticipates that there will be even more participants this year.

Visa International<br />
Visa is the world's leading payment brand with more than 1.1 billion cards

in circulation worldwide. Visa-branded cards are used to purchase over US$2.5 trillion worth of goods and services every year and are accepted at more than 30 million merchant locations and over 810,000 ATMs in more than 150 countries. Visa is a leader in Internet based payments and is pioneering the creation of universal commerce – the ability to conduct commerce anywhere, anytime, and any way.

Visa Asia Pacific<br />
In Asia Pacific, Visa has a greater market share than all other payment

card brands combined with 59 percent of all card purchases at the point of sale being made using Visa cards. There are currently more than 365 million Visa cards in the region. During 2002, US$700 billion was spent at point of sale or withdrawn from ATMs in Asia Pacific using Visa cards, an increase of 43 percent over the previous year. Visa Asia Pacific’s Internet address is http://www.visa-asia.com.

 For more information please contact:<br />
 Florence Fang<br />
 Director, Corporate Communications<br />
 Visa International Asia Pacific<br />
 Tel: +65-6437-5789<br />
 Fax: +65-6437-5567<br />
 Email: yfang@visa.com