SAN FRANCISCO & MENTOR, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Visa (NYSE:V) today announced an agreement to acquire CardinalCommerce, an industry leader in e-commerce payment authentication. The acquisition will enable more secure, seamless payments, whether made through a browser, mobile app, or connected device, and will help Visa’s clients and merchant partners accelerate digital commerce.

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“This strategic acquisition combines Visa’s industry expertise and Cardinal’s critical role in payment authentication to bring added security to online transactions, reduce fraud, and support digital commerce which is the fastest growing commerce segment today,” said Mark Nelsen, senior vice president of Risk and Authentication Products at Visa. “By helping merchants, acquirers, and issuers better distinguish between good and bad transactions, Visa is in an even better position to strengthen consumer trust in digital payments, help merchants grow their businesses, and accelerate innovation in commerce.”

As shoppers increasingly make their purchases through digital channels, Visa is committed to equipping merchants, acquirers, and issuers with intelligent, data-driven tools to keep e-commerce fraud in check, while minimizing disruption to consumers at checkout. The payments industry has worked together to recently launch the 3-D Secure 2.0 standard, which will greatly expand the scope and quality of real-time predictive risk scoring for both merchants and issuers, provide more seamless online payment experiences for consumers, and accommodate new devices and ways to pay. More user-friendly authentication experiences can translate to higher conversion rates and increased sales for merchants. Issuers will also be able to better assess risk and make more informed transaction decisions in an increasingly digital world.

“We are excited to embark on this next chapter of Cardinal’s growth with Visa,” said Mike Keresman, founder and CEO, Cardinal. “By combining our authentication expertise and role in supporting both merchants and issuers, and Visa’s payments expertise and global reach, our two companies will be able to fast track the next-generation of digital authentication.”

Visa already provides Cardinal’s services to merchants and acquirers through its CyberSource merchant and acquirer enablement platform. Additionally, Visa will draw upon its global relationships and presence to drive international expansion of Cardinal’s products and services. As Visa plans to integrate tokenization into Visa Checkout over the next 18 months, the addition of Cardinal will allow more seamless integration of 3-D Secure and delivery of these new fraud mitigation capabilities to merchants.

Cardinal will continue to operate and serve all of its clients as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Visa, and its authentication platform will continue to support a broad range of payment brands and partners across the industry. Co-founders Tim Sherwin and Chandra Balasubramanian will remain as leaders of the Cardinal team, based in Mentor, Ohio.

Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed. The transaction, which is subject to the customary closing conditions, is expected to close in Visa’s second fiscal quarter 2017.

About Visa Inc. Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) 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 electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured 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, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa.html, visacorporate.tumblr.com and @VisaNews.

About CardinalCommerce. CardinalCommerce is the pioneer and global leader in enabling authenticated payment transactions in the card-not-present payments industry, and the largest authentication network in the world. Through One Connection to the proprietary Cardinal SafeCloud^TM, we enable friction-free, technology-neutral authentication and alternative payment services (including digital wallets and mobile commerce services). Cardinal services, partners with and complements most providers in the marketplace to deliver their One Connection solution to secure transactions. In accommodating this growing number of payment brands and methods, Cardinal's platforms serve as universal switches, supporting virtually all merchant platforms, wallets, legacy processing systems and authentication methodologies. For more information, visit www.cardinalcommerce.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are identified by words such as “will,” "is expected," and other similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements we make about the likelihood and timing of the closing of the acquisition or the benefits to Visa arising from the completion of the transaction.

By their nature, forward-looking statements: (i) speak only as of the date they are made; (ii) are not statements of historical fact or guarantees of future performance; and (iii) are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions or changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict or quantify. Therefore, actual results could differ materially and adversely from Visa’s forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including the risk that the transaction may not be consummated; the closing conditions relating to the transaction; and various other factors, including those contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 and our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

You should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except as required by law, we do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

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