The pioneer who started it all :

The pioneer who started it all On April 18, 1906 a huge earthquake devastated the city of San Francisco. Most of the city bankers wanted to declare all the banks be closed until at least November. In a legendary move, A. P. Giannini rewopened his bank by putting together two barrels and a plank on top of it. Instead of demanding collateral, he demanded a handshake and worked on trust. He made himself available to 'any man who wants to rebuild San Francisco'. A move that laid the foundation for the creation of Visa, the card that over a billion people across the world carry today.

The brand Visa is born :

Bank of America expanded its bank card program by forming the BankAmericard Service Corporation, licensing banks outside of California to issue cards to their customers. Since the cost of bank card programs were shared among its financial institutions, even small banks across the country could join. In 1970, Bank of America transferred control and ownership of the BankAmericard program to the newly instituted National BankAmericard Inc (NBI). In 1976, NBI changed the name of this card from BankAmericard to Visa.