Visa in Europe

Visa in Europe

Learn more about our business in Europe.
Visa in Europe

Learn more about our business in Europe.
Visa in Europe

Learn more about our business in Europe.
Visa in Europe

Learn more about our business in Europe.

Visa Europe Board

Visa retains an effective decision-making body in Europe through a revised Visa Europe Board that reflects our new structure as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Visa Inc. and as a Bank of England designated entity.

The role of the Visa Europe Board includes approving the budget for Visa in Europe, tailoring Visa Inc. strategy for the European region and deciding on matters referred to it by the Visa Europe Executive Leadership Team.

The CEO is responsible to the Board for the day-to-day management of the European Business, supported by her leadership team and a management committee.

Reporting lines with the European business balance the needs of both the regional operating model and the global regional structure, with matrix reporting lines in place for central service functions.

: Debbie Hewitt MBE is currently the Non-Executive Chair of Visa Europe Limited, The Restaurant Group plc, BGL (Holdings) Ltd., and White Stuff Limited.

Her executive career was spent at RAC plc where she was Group Managing Director and prior to that she was in retail management with Marks & Spencer. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and was awarded the MBE for services to Business and the Public Sector in 2011.
: Charlotte Hogg is Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer for Visa’s European operations.

Charlotte brings more than 25 years of experience in financial services, bank operations and management consulting to Visa. Most recently served as Chief Operating Officer for the Bank of England, from 2013 to 2017. Prior to that role, she led retail distribution for Santander in the UK and previously worked at Experian as the managing director of U.K. and Irish operations.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Hogg was a managing director for strategy and planning at Morgan Stanley, and a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, based in the U.S.

Ms. Hogg graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and History. She is a Kennedy Memorial Trust Scholar from Harvard University, and has an honorary Doctor of Laws from Warwick University.
: Bill Sheedy serves in a unique role as Senior Advisor to Visa’s Chair and CEO, a position he was appointed to in January 2020. Bill reports to Chair and CEO Al Kelly and is responsible for strategic initiatives important to Visa and the payments industry, including global market expansion, social impact programs and pricing.

Prior to this appointment, Bill led global strategy, government and public policy, learning, mergers and acquisitions, and social impact. He has served at different times as Visa’s president of Europe, North America and Latin America regions and helped lead the company’s restructuring in 2007, culminating in a highly successful IPO in 2008.

Bill is a board member for Visa Europe and Chairman of the Visa Foundation. He holds a B.S. from West Virginia University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.
: Philippe Tromp has 35 years of experience in Capital Markets, Financial Market Infrastructure, General Insurance, and Financial Technology. He started his career in Investment Banking at PaineWebber Inc. and Bankers Trust Co. and later became Head of the international operations of Financial Security Assurance, the financial guarantee insurance company, a position he held for 16 years.

More recently, Philippe led a start-up behind the development of a multi-dealer Request-For-Quote (RFQ) trading platform in the credit derivatives market. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Euroclear UK and Ireland, the Central Securities Depository, where he chairs the Risk Committee and Chairman of the Board of AIG UK Limited, the UK subsidiary of US insurer AIG Inc.

Philippe holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and is a graduate of Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines with a major in Solid State Physics.
: Aki Hussain has over 20 years of professional experience in banking, insurance and accounting. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Hiscox plc and sits on the boards of seven entities in the Hiscox Group. Prior to joining Hiscox, Aki was the Chief Financial Officer of Prudential plc. UK & Europe. Aki also held a number of senior roles in the financial services, telecoms and media sectors. He was Finance Director for the Consumer Bank division at Lloyds Banking Group, before which he was Finance Director for the Consumer division of NTL (now Virgin Media).

Aki is also a Chartered Accountant, having trained with KPMG. Aki has a BA degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Leeds and an ACA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a fellow of the ICW.
: Rob Livingston is Chief Financial Officer for Visa Europe. Based in London, he oversees Visa’s financial strategies, planning and reporting, in addition to all finance operations and corporate real estate in Europe.

Prior to this role, Rob was SVP for Strategic Initiatives in Beijing. From 2013-2017, he was Visa’s Country Manager for Canada, where he oversaw the strategic direction, key relationships, marketing, operations and financial performance of Visa’s Canadian business.

Before joining Visa in 2013, Rob worked at Capital One for 18 years in the US, UK, France and Canada, most recently as President of Capital One Canada.

Rob is Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Canada. He received his degree in Economics from Yale University.
: Peter Plumb is currently Chairman of the Photobox Group. Prior to joining Photobox, Peter was the Chief Executive Officer of Just Eat plc and served as Non-Executive Director of Cooperative Group. Peter also spent eight years as Chief Executive Officer of MoneySuperMarket.com Group Plc. Before that Peter was the UK Managing Director of dunnhumby. Peter has also held senior leadership roles in consumer businesses including Disney, Dyson and PepsiCo.

Peter has a BSc degree in Civil Engineering from University of Birmingham and an MBA from IMD Lausanne.
: Chris Clark is Visa's Regional President for Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, he is responsible for business operations, strategy development and management of Visa’s businesses in the region. Chris is a member of Visa’s global Executive Committee.

Prior to leading Asia Pacific, Chris was Group Country Manager for North Asia and Australasia, where he successfully drove growth and managed challenges in Visa’s most developed markets in the region. He previously held the position of General Manager for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific as well as General Manager for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau and the Philippines. He joined Visa in 2002 as Country Manager for Taiwan.

Before joining Visa, Chris served 14 years in a variety of senior management positions at National Australia Bank, including market management roles in Taiwan and Thailand. He also worked in consumer and commercial banking, including assignments in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Chris is a fluent Mandarin speaker, has a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Melbourne (Australia) and completed executive programs at both INSEAD (France) and Stanford University (USA).

Policy & Regulation

The European Commission announced new regulations designed to safeguard consumer financial data. New regulations require an additional security step for some online purchases. More purchases will require the added layer of security known as two-factor authentication for consumers to confirm their identity.

Self-assessment

In December 2019, Visa Europe published its updated self-assessment against the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI). The point of the assessment is 30 June 2019.

The PFMIs are internationally agreed standards published by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in April 2012. They are a part of a set of standards that the international community considers essential to strengthening and preserving financial stability.

Visa Europe as a Recognised Payment System has undertaken the self-assessment against the principles that apply to payment systems.

You can download a PDF version of the document here.

Visa Rules

Visa Europe Operating Regulations

The previously published broad Visa Europe Operating Regulations have been retired. The new public version of the Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules (which relate to Scheme) can be downloaded here.

To request a copy of the rules relating to Processing, please email [email protected].

Corporate Responsibility

Helping people and businesses in our markets to prosper in a global economy.

As a trusted brand in payments, Visa has a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to use our business to connect the world— enabling economic growth and strengthening economies while also helping improve lives and create a better world.

Corporate Governance Report

For periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019, all large companies (including subsidiaries) have to publish a statement explaining how its directors have had regard to wider stakeholders when performing their duty under s172 of the Companies Act 2006. Visa applies high standards and best practice to corporate governance arrangements, complying with the regulatory governance requirements of our regulators.

Read Visa's Corporate Governance Report

UK Modern Slavery Act Statement

Visa is committed to operating responsibly and establishing high ethical standards across our company. The U.K. Modern Slavery Act of 2015 requires companies carrying on business in the U.K. to publish a statement describing steps taken to ensure modern forms of slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in the company’s business operations and supply chains.

Read Visa’s Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement

UK Tax Strategy

Visa is a global payments technology company that enables fast, secure and reliable electronic payments across more than 200 countries and territories. We facilitate global commerce through the transfer of value and information among a global network of consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, strategic partners, and government entities.

Schedule 19, Finance Act 2016 requires Visa to set out the tax strategy of its UK companies and this is detailed below. This strategy covers all taxes and applies from the date of publication until it is superseded.

Read Visa’s UK Tax Strategy

UK Pension Schemes

The chair of the Trustee Directors of Visa Europe Pension Trustee Limited, Peter Gibbs, has provided this statement for the period ending 30 September 2019.

Read Visa Europe Pension Plan Chairman’s Statement

In addition, there is also a requirement to issue a Statement of Investment Principles for both of Visa’s pension schemes in the UK, which sets out the trustees’ investment strategy and their policy on environmental, social and corporate governance factors.

Read Visa Europe Pension Plan’s Statement of Investment Principles dated 23 September 2020

Read Visa UK Pension Plan’s Statement of Investment Principles dated 1 September 2020

FSB Continuity of Access Questionnaire

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international organization that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, published its Guidance on Continuity of Access to Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) for a Firm in Resolution on 6 July 2017.

This document provides guidance for FMIs, such as Visa, for maintaining critical function continuity in times of a serious incident.

In addition, the FSB also developed a questionnaire for FMIs to complete that provides information relevant to continuity of access support when clients require resolution.

Read Visa Europe Limited’s summary response to this questionnaire here.

Diversity & Inclusion

Visa believes that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace irrespective of race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, belief, sex, sexual orientation, sexual identity including gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, age, disability, marriage and civil partnership, and/or any characteristics protected in any of our markets.

Gender Pay Reporting

Our commitment is not purely based on a strong ethical stance, but also because we value and respect the diversity of our customers, consumers, suppliers, partners, communities and the individualism that every employee brings to our company.

UK – Read our 2020 Gender Pay Gap Report

France – As a result of our commitment to diversity and equality Visa has scored 88% on the 2020 annual pay index prescribed under the French regulations. As a firm we continue to strive to evolve and improve our policies and practice which overtime will drive continued improvement in our score and help us meet our clients’ needs.

Women in Finance Charter

In our mission to be an inclusive and fairly represented organisation, last year Visa in Europe signed the Women in Finance Charter. The Charter reflects the UK government’s aspiration to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms.

When we signed up to the Charter in September 2018, we had 34% of women in senior management roles, we are proud to say that we have now achieved 36.6%, meeting our target for this year. By 30 September 2021, we aspire to have 38% of women in senior management roles.

We have also achieved our target of 38% females across Europe, increasing from 36.4% in 2018 to 39.2% in September 2019.

Going forward, we have developed programmes to help us achieve gender balance across all levels of the organisation.

Read our Women in Finance Charter Report

Business Code of Conduct

Learn about our Visa business in Europe, including the corporate structure, key policy and regulation provisions, and corporate responsibility measures.

Under this arrangement, we will separately compete for scheme and processing business, while continuing to meet the changing demands of a global marketplace.

Our Code of Conduct helps us understand our roles and responsibilities in the context of this structure, no matter which area of Visa we are part of. It helps ensure individual and organisational compliance as we continue to deliver new and exciting products and services quickly and at scale.

Working at Visa means being committed to doing the right thing for our customers, and as we work towards creating a single, global Visa, this focus will remain. The Code of Conduct provides a clear framework for employees, to help us navigate this transition while continuing to provide a reliable service based on international acceptance and security.

Visa partners with its customers in Europe – banks and payment providers – to enable payments and associated services. Our focus is on providing global, competitive and innovative solutions that meet the needs of our customers. This in turn brings tangible benefits to their customers - enabling merchants to grow their businesses and enabling consumers to pay where and when they choose, and on any device.

Visa Europe Limited (Visa) operates separate management bodies for the management of Scheme and Processing.

In line with its obligations under Article 16(1) of the Regulatory Technical Standard (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/72) of 4 October 2017) (‘RTS’) and without prejudice to the exemption of shared services referred to in Article 12 of the RTS, Visa has set out the following clear and objective criteria to ensure that the composition of its management bodies mitigates any conflicts of interest for the decision making process between Scheme and Processing:

Any Scheme and Processing management body is constituted with a defined mandate that ensures compliance with Visa’s Separation of Scheme and Processing Code of Conduct (including the protection of sensitive information and other conduct obligations to mitigate any conflicts of interest).
Members of the relevant management bodies of each of Scheme and Processing will at all times be subject to conflicts of interest policies

Any circumstances where directorships may be held by the same person at the same time in the management body of Scheme and Processing will be objectively justified and restricted to the minimum necessary to address a specific need or purpose. An example of circumstances where it may be necessary would be for regulatory, prudential or other risk based oversight.