Visa 2014 Annual Report Download - page 39

end-to-end processing for cards carrying our brands in these countries may put us at a competitive
disadvantage by limiting our ability to ensure the quality of the services supporting our brands.
In addition, we depend on third parties and our financial institution clients to provide various
services associated with our payments network on our behalf, and to the extent that such third-party
vendors or our financial institution clients fail to perform or deliver adequate services, our business and
reputation could be impaired.
Negative perception of our company in the marketplace may affect our brands and reputation,
which are key assets of our business.
Our brands and their attributes are key assets of our business. The ability to attract and retain
account holders and financial institution clients to Visa-branded products depends highly upon the
external perceptions of our company and our industry’s quality of service, use and protection of
account holder data, regulatory compliance, financial condition, corporate responsibility and other
factors. Negative perception or publicity, particularly in light of the rapid, widespread use of social
media channels, could cause damage to our brands and reputation. Our business may also be affected
by actions taken by our clients or other third parties, or by circumstances that are outside of our
control:
• Our clients may take actions that we do not believe to be in the best interests of our brands,
such as aggressive creditor practices.
• Our limited control over the quality of service and promotion of our brands in Europe could
affect our brands and reputation globally. While Visa Europe has very broad latitude to use
our brands and technology within its region, Visa Europe is not required to spend any
minimum amount of money conducting research on brand performance, promoting or
maintaining the strength of our brands.
• We may be associated with adverse developments with respect to our industry, and with new
rules and regulations concerning human rights conditions, our corporate responsibility
regarding those conditions and resulting disclosure requirements.
• Any negative perception of the United States arising from its political, economic, social or
other positions could harm the perception of our company and our brands globally by
associating Visa with those positions.
Any of these factors could turn clients and consumers away from our brand and products, require
us to take on additional liabilities and costs, result in greater regulatory or legislative scrutiny, and
materially and adversely affect our revenues, operating results, prospects for future growth and overall
business.
Unprecedented economic events in financial markets around the world have affected and are
likely to continue to affect our clients, merchants and account holders, and may potentially
impact our financial condition, revenues, results of operations, prospects for future growth and
overall business.
The current threats to global economic growth include geopolitical instability in Russia, Ukraine,
the Middle East and other oil producing countries, which could affect oil prices, economic fragility in the
Eurozone and in the United States, higher interest rates hurting the housing market, sluggish job
creation, political discord, spending cuts and debt defaults. While there continues to be some
improvements in advanced economies, emerging economies continue to suffer with slower growth.
Consumer spending continues to be impacted from consumer debt levels, elevated housing inventory,
deflation, changes in savings rates, continued equity market volatility, decreased export activity,
lowered government spending and additional government intervention. Furthermore, continued
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