Visa Payment Card Acceptance Helps the Bottom Line of Quick Service Restaurant Partners.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2002

Visa Efforts Demonstrate that Payment Card Acceptance

Increases Ticket Size, Increases Speed and

Improves Customer Satisfaction

Visa U.S.A. announced today that recent studies reveal that Visa payment card acceptance has provided significant business benefits to quick service restaurants (QSR). Specifically, accepting payment cards can increase the profits by cutting the expenses for many of Visa's quick service restaurant partners. Also, technological innovations at the drive-thru have improved the speed of service and customer satisfaction.

Payment cards offer a lift in ticket sales. Based on over 100,000 transactions at restaurants within two different major quick service restaurant brands, the average transaction for credit customers was higher than for cash customers. Test results show a 20 to 30 percent increase over cash transactions.

Visa payment cards and technologies offer improved speed through automated customer activated payment options, such as the technology similar to the "pay at the pump" systems available at gas stations across the United States. Customers can swipe their cards before they even order their food to speed up their experience. Ninety-six percent of customers who paid with a payment card at quick service restaurants involved in the studies indicated that the technology was "very easy" to use and that they were satisfied with the speed of service. During peak hours, the payment system will help restaurant operators reduce loss of customers at the drive-thru due to long lines.

"Although we are continuing to collect and analyze data, results of the studies we have conducted regarding the impact of cards on drive-thru operations within the QSR industry appear very positive," says David Kaiser, President, Global Growth Group, formerly Sparagowski & Associates, the market research firm that studies the fast food industry, including those commissioned by Visa U.S.A. on payment card acceptance.

Visa acceptance can offer added customer service by providing another convenient payment option in quick service restaurants and at drive-thrus. In a six-month test, an average 98 percent of customers interviewed indicated that credit cards were "somewhat" or "very" easy to use at the quick service restaurant counter and drive-thru. Ninety-six percent of customers who paid with a card product interviewed at quick service restaurants were "completely" or "mostly" satisfied with the speed of service.

Visa acceptance also decreases expenses because the costs associated with handling cash and checks are consistently higher than those associated with payment card transactions. Also, by reducing the number of cash transactions, stores can reduce the potential for cash losses.

Visa is working with the top quick service restaurant brands on these acceptance efforts. To develop solutions that meet the industry's needs, Visa also partners with a number of leading point-of-sale technology specialists including VeriFone, Hypercom and IBM.

Visa's suite of resources for quick service restaurants includes: a return on investment model that operators can use to evaluate the costs of payment card acceptance, customized signage and a marketing toolkit and assistance on the integration of the magnetic stripe on card products with the restaurants existing payment systems.

In an ongoing effort to maintain Visa's superiority in acceptance and to satisfy cardholders' demand to make transactions when and where they buy products and services, Visa continually looks to expand acceptance in markets that traditionally do not accept payment cards. Card acceptance has increased over the past couple of years. According to Global Growth Group's QSR Drive-thru Time Study, only 7.96 percent of quick service restaurants visited accepted card payments in 2000. In 2002, 14.47 percent of the restaurants visited accepted cards. In 2001, Visa QSR volume topped $1.9 billion, a 110 percent increase over the previous year.

About Visa U.S.A.

Visa is the world's leading payment brand and largest consumer payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumer and merchant customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives. Nearly 14,000 U.S. financial institutions rely on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $949 billion in annual transaction volume - including about half of all Internet payments - with virtually 100 percent reliability. U.S. consumers carry 383 million Visa-branded smart, credit, commercial, prepaid and check cards, accepted at approximately 24 million locations worldwide. Visa's people, partnerships, brand, payment technology and security standards are helping to create universal commerce - the ability to safely conduct transactions anytime, anywhere, anyway. For more information about Visa, please visit www.visa.com.