Visa 2014 Annual Report Download - page 23

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•Credit. Our credit payment solutions support issuers’ deferred payment and customized
financing products.
Our core processing services involve the routing of payment information and related data to
facilitate the authorization, clearing and settlement of transactions between our issuers and acquirers.
VisaNet is built on a centralized architecture, enabling us to view and analyze each authorization
transaction we process in real time and to provide value-added services, including information
products, such as risk scoring and loyalty applications, while the transaction data is being routed
through our network.
Visa’s processing services continue to expand to address the needs of all participants in the
evolving payments ecosystem, through such offerings as our merchant gateway and Visa Debit
Processing Services (“DPS”). Merchant gateway services provided through our CyberSource
subsidiaries enable gateway routing and other services that make it easier for eCommerce merchants
to accept, process and reconcile payments, manage fraud and safeguard payment security online.
DPS provides comprehensive issuer processing services for participating issuers of Visa debit, prepaid
and ATM payment products. These and other services support our financial institution clients and their
use of our products, and promote the growth and security of our payments network.
Processing Infrastructure
VisaNet consists of multiple synchronized processing centers, including two data centers in the
United States, which are linked by a global telecommunications network and are engineered for
redundancy. In addition, in accordance with the terms of the Framework Agreement among Visa Inc.,
Visa Europe Limited and others, Visa Europe’s processing centers in the United Kingdom must
maintain interoperability with Visa’s synchronized system. Intelligent access points around the world
complete the VisaNet global processing infrastructure and enable merchants and financial institutions
worldwide to access our core processing and value-added services.
Visa also owns and manages additional data centers in the United States and internationally,
including those we added with our acquisitions of CyberSource and PlaySpan. These facilities enable
transaction services and provide uninterrupted connectivity for account holders, our financial institution
clients and our processing partners.
Intellectual Property
Our portfolio of trademarks, in particular our family of Visa marks, our Plus mark and our Dove
design mark, are important to our business. Through agreements with our financial institution clients,
we authorize the use of our trademarks in connection with their participation in our payments network.
We own a number of patents and patent applications relating to payment solutions, transaction
processing, security systems and other matters. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark,
copyright and trade secret laws in the United States and other jurisdictions, as well as confidentiality
procedures and contractual provisions, to protect our proprietary technology.
Seasonality
We generally do not experience any pronounced seasonality in our business. No individual quarter
of fiscal 2014 or fiscal 2013 accounted for more than 30% of our operating revenues in those years.
Working Capital
Payments settlement due from and to our financial institution clients can represent a substantial
daily working capital requirement. U.S. dollar settlements are typically settled within the same day and
do not result in a receivable or payable balance, while settlement currencies other than the U.S. dollar
9