cover of episode Visa

Visa

2023/11/27
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In 1958, Bank of America launched the BankAmericard in Fresno, California, marking the first large-scale entry of a bank into the credit card market. This move aimed to streamline B of A's diverse lending programs and capitalize on the potential of consumer loans. Despite initial challenges with fraud and delinquency, the BankAmericard program became profitable and quickly expanded throughout California, becoming the largest credit card program in the US within a year.
  • BankAmericard bundled convenience and credit, transforming consumer lending.
  • Initial rollout saw high fraud and delinquency, but B of A persisted due to potential scale.
  • B of A leveraged California's unique banking landscape to gain a first-mover advantage.
  • Within a year, 2 million Californians signed up, demonstrating strong consumer demand.

Shownotes Transcript

To paraphrase Visa founder Dee Hock, how many of you know Visa? Great, all of you. Now, how many of you know how it started? Or, for that matter, who started it? Who runs and governs it? Where is it headquartered? What’s its business model?

For the 11th largest market cap company in the world, Visa’s history and strategy is almost shockingly unknown. A huge portion of the world’s population uses their products on a daily basis (you might say Visa is… everywhere people want to be), but very few know the amazing story behind how that came to be. Or why Visa continues to be one of the most incredible and incredibly durable business franchises of all-time. (50%+ net income margins!! On $30B of revenue!) Today we do our part to change that. Tune in for one heck of a journey.

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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.