Visa members still meet all deal requirements

JAKARTA (JP): Visa International's member banks in Indonesia have proved able to support transactions from both cardholders and merchants despite the economic crisis.

Visa International country manager for Indonesia, Ellyana Fuad, said Saturday that her company had agreements and checks in place to ensure all transactions around the world are honored.

"Our member banks in Indonesia continue to meet all of Visa's requirements and we continue to maintain a close relationship with them," she said.

Visa, which began operations in Indonesia 15 years ago, estimated that the value of its credit card transactions in the country reached US$1.54 billion in 1996, up 26 percent from the previous year. Transactions totaled $421 million in the first quarter of last year.

Indonesia has over 1.7 million credit cards in use, 1.2 million of which are issued by Visa.

Worldwide the company claims to be the preferred brand of credit card. It has issued 618 million cards which generate over $1 trillion in annual transaction volume. Cards are accepted at more than 14 million worldwide locations, including 380,000 Automatic Teller Machine (ATMs) in the Visa Global ATM network.

The company plays a vital role in advancing new payment technologies to its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders, Ellyana said. (gis)