Inaugural Visa LEADER Awards recognize financial institutions in Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa with outstanding risk management

Emirates NBD and Network International receive accolades for MENA

Dubai, 1 July 2012 - Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) has launched a new award for financial institutions that recognizes, shares and promotes best practices in risk. The award aims to advance the risk management standards across all financial institutions by honoring those that have successfully implemented a secure and reliable infrastructure that counters fraud across all channels.

The global payments company lauded the efforts of 20 institutions across Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (APCEMEA) by recognizing them with the inaugural annual Visa LEADER Award at Visa's 2012 APCEMEA Security Summit.

The LEADER Award is divided into two categories: 'Best Issuing Institution' and 'Best Acquiring Institution', with the MENA awards both presented to institutions in the UAE - Emirates NBD and Network International respectively.

"Societies are increasingly moving from cash to electronic payments because they offer greater security, reliability and convenience than cash. As the payment ecosystem evolves and payments become smarter and better, fraud attacks are increasing in sophistication," said Tolan Steele, Head of Risk, Visa APCEMEA. 

"The LEADER Awards comes at a time when governments across the region are increasing their risk management efforts," said Marcello Baricordi, General Manager for Visa in the UAE, "In the UAE specifically, the regulators have played an instrumental role in empowering financial institutions to improve their risk management procedures. The impact of this leadership has been significant and we are delighted to see higher levels of commitment to adopting strong risk practices across the UAE - with two organizations in particular standing out for the stellar performance they have made in the area of risk management."

Emirates NBD stood out as 'The Best Issuing Institution' for the active role it has played in promoting the sharing of fraud information, adopting strong risk practices for cardholders and deploying anti-skimming technology at all of its ATMs.

R. Sivaram SVP, Card Business Head for Emirates NBD said: "We place a lot of emphasis on risk management and have worked hard over the years to educate our cardholders about fraud and security. Advances in technology have allowed us to work efficiently with Visa and put safe practices into action and we are delighted that our efforts in this area have been recognized by the experts at Visa."

Network International, meanwhile, achieved the 'The Best Acquiring Institution' award for its ongoing efforts to initiate and assist law enforcement in a number of payment card fraud-related cases and its commitment in adopting strong risk practices, such as the implementation of a fraud detection system by a dedicated risk team.

Mr. Abdulla Qassem, Chairman, Network International, said: "At Network International we take the risk of fraud very seriously and the risk team has been working hard to provide a fraud detection system so our customers can feel protected. We are honored to receive this award and we will continue to work with Visa in order to provide safe and secure banking in the region."

Steele continued: "Visa recognizes that combating fraud is not an individual effort, but one that requires collaboration within the whole industry. Financial institutions have been advancing their risk management infrastructure by enhancing their technology, protocols and tools to effectively mitigate emerging threats and trends. Visa clients across APCEMEA have been proactively countering fraud across all channels, and we want to applaud and recognize those that have stood out in their risk management measures, strategies and success rates. We hope this award will encourage others to emulate their success in advancing the security of the industry."

About Visa Security Summit
The Visa Security Summit gathers key risk management professionals in the payment industry. Participants are offered the opportunity to share valuable insight into the security challenges faced by today's payments industry and hear expert and leading opinions on the future of payment security. The event also features plenary and breakout sessions, meet-the-expert sessions, panel discussions, workshops and an exhibition showcase of leading industry suppliers. More information can be found at: www.visasecuritysummit2012.com.

About Visa Inc.
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 transaction messages 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.. Corporate Backgrounder

Contact:
Visa: Joanna MacAdie, DABO & CO - Tel: +971 4 344 4901 or email: visateam@daboandco.com  

© Press Release 2012