Visa Gains on American Express in Small Business Commercial Card Market; PSI Global Says Visa Now Has 20% Market Share, Up 11% from 1998.

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 1999--

Visa International's aggressive pursuit of the U.S. small business market is paying off. PSI Global said today that Visa increased its share of the business card market to 20 percent, up from 11 percent in 1998.

The 1999 PSI Global Commercial Services Research Program (CSRP) survey found that Visa now stands just two points below American Express Company, which maintained its market leader position with 22 percent share of the small business commercial card market. MasterCard has 13 percent market share, up from 10 percent in 1998, the survey found.

"Visa has promoted its small business card product very aggressively," said PSI Global Senior Vice President Maria Erickson, "and it's finally paying off. Leveraging the strength of its brand, Visa has successfully utilized advertising and partnerships to build a larger share of the small business credit card market."

The new CSRP study, which is based on telephone interviews with 900 companies with sales between $500,000 and $10 million, found that 49 percent of all small businesses in this category are now using some type of business credit card. In 1998, 37 percent of these firms used a business credit card.

While the number of companies using business credit cards has grown steadily, total card billings have remained relatively unchanged. The average small business spends about $10,000 each year on a business card, typically revolving about $2,000 monthly, the CSRP study found.

According to Ms. Erickson, "those numbers could change. Visa is heavily promoting itself as the payment vehicle of choice on the Internet. As spending on the Internet increases, so will the card billings of small businesses. Already, 20 percent of small businesses are making purchases online," she added.

PSI Global, an NFO Worldwide Company, is a marketing information firm focused exclusively on financial services. For more than 30 years, PSI has provided unique "voice of the customer" insight and analysis across all types of market research. PSI products cover all aspects of retail and corporate financial services, including continuous studies devoted to brand equity, card services, payments, delivery systems and online financial services. PSI Global has offices in New York, London, Singapore, San Francisco and Tampa.

NFO Worldwide is the largest custom marketing research firm in the U.S. and among the top three in the world. It serves more than 3,000 clients in 31 countries.

Copies of the graphics accompanying this release are available by e-mail, fax or at http://www.psi-global-nfo.com/press/.