Visa gives six lucky winners 1,000 JOD each for simply swiping their Visa cards when making local utility payments in Jordan.

Amman, January 24, 2012 - Visa, the world's leading payment solutions provider has awarded six lucky winners 1,000 JOD for taking part in their water and electricity utilities payment program which ran from September 2011 and concluded on January 5th 2012. Consumers entered the draw by simply using their Visa debit & credit cards to pay their local utility bills with both Jordan Water Co. Miyahuna LLCO and JEPCO.

Launched in May 2011, the partnership between Visa and both Jordan Water Co. Miyahuna LLCO and JEPCO along with partner banks aimed to provide the Jordanian community with a more efficient way to pay their utility bills, without the hassle of having to withdraw cash or even queue at the utility company offices. Cardholders can also track their bills and verify their transactions through their bank statements or using online banking services avoiding the worry of following up on their bills with the utility companies.

As a result of the promotion, from September through December 2011, there was a 386% increase in merchant volume (MV) over the previous four months from May through August 2011, measuring the total amount of Visa transactions for utilities payments across the network in Jordan. This significant figure shows the level to which consumers in Jordan are increasingly using their Visa debit and credit cards as primary modes of payment for all aspects of their daily life.

The list of winners from the utilities promotion included Mr. Nabil Mitri Bosheh (Ahli Bank), Mr. Mohammad Fadel Al Hunaity and Mr. Mutaz Mahmoud Al Zoghbieber (Jordan Islamic Bank for Finance and Investment), Mr. Rami Abdel Qader Al Tarawaneh (The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance), Mr. Mohammad Hussam Barakat (Bank Al Etihad) and Mr. Safwan Akram Tbaishat (Arab Banking Corporation).

Mr. Tony Gougassian, General Manager for Visa Levant, commented on this new initiative and partnership: "Visa is proud to reward members of the Jordanian community for their use of Visa cards and services to safely and conveniently make their payments for the most necessary of services in Jordan. With our partnership with local banks as well as both Jordan Water Co. Miyahuna LLCO and JEPCO, we have been able to introduce a new way of accommodating local consumers by helping to save them both time and effort whilst having the peace of mind of Visas unparalleled security standards in place. From the results, we have seen that consumers in Jordan are more willing than ever to use their Visa cards for payments of all kinds, due to the convenience and level of security we provide through our payment solutions.

Visa recognizes the importance of every transaction on our network, and we invest significant resources to maintain the unmatched reliability and security of our network across the 200 countries and territories in which we do business. We provide our cardholders the best services offering convenience, safety and worldwide acceptance. This is just one example of our ongoing drive to continue to offer Visa Cardholder the test services and products. That is why we partner with financial institutions, governments, businesses and technology leaders to make our network smarter and more accessible to more participants."

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About Visa
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks--VisaNet--that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

© Press Release 2012