U.S. Bank Offers Visa Mobile Application to Cardholders

U.S. Bank, lead bank of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and Visa (NYSE:V), a global leader in payments, announced that Visa Mobile is now available to select U.S. Bank debit card holders. Visa Mobile is the first application to bundle alerts, offers, and a locator service. The alerts provide an added layer of security plus enable cardholders to manage their U.S. Bank Visa accounts with near-real time updates. The application can be downloaded to mobile devices powered by Android, the Open Handset Alliance’s open source platform for mobile devices.

“We view the launch of Visa Mobile for U.S. Bank Visa cardholders as an excellent opportunity to enhance the consumer payment experience,” said Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for retail payment solutions at U.S. Bank. “Visa Mobile empowers our customers to actively monitor their spending and manage their accounts through near-real time alerts, and to take advantage of merchant offers that are uniquely targeted to match their lifestyle.”

The Visa Mobile application, which made its debut in the fall of 2008, has been enhanced for the launch with U.S. Bank, providing account holders with even greater functionality, more information about their Visa accounts, and greater choice in the type of merchant offers they can take advantage of.

• Alerts – Visa account holders are able to choose from an expanded list of preferences for when they would like to be notified of account activity. Those preferences include transaction amount, international transactions, gasoline purchases, declined transactions and card not present transactions such as ecommerce purchases. Cardholders are notified in near-real time of account activity, typically within seconds of completing a purchase.
• Offers – Account holders can choose from an expanded list of merchant categories they would like to receive offers from, including electronics, convenience stores, entertainment, flowers and gifts, gas stations, travel, health and beauty. A number of merchants are already making offers available to Visa Mobile users such as Club TeeTime, FragranceNet.com, Omaha Steaks, Papa John’s Pizza, and Planet Hollywood.
• Locator – Locating merchants where Visa Mobile users can redeem offers or filtering down to find near-by U.S. Bank ATMs is aided through the use of location-based services. Merchant offers can be embedded with a link to Google Maps™ and directions to the nearest retail location where Visa account holders can redeem that offer.

“More and more consumers around the globe rely on their mobile device as an everyday financial tool,” said Tim Attinger, head of product innovation at Visa Inc. “We are pleased to offer Visa Mobile through Android-enabled devices and bring an added layer of security and convenience to everyday Visa transactions.”

The Federal Reserve projects that by 2015, mobile financial services will overtake the online channel as the primary means of interaction between banks and customers. Additionally, a recent survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted by Visa and strategy consulting firm Mercatus LLC found that mobile capabilities is currently second only to ATM availability as the most influential delivery channel when selecting a bank’s offer.

The latest enhancements to Visa Mobile further underscore Visa’s commitment to extending the reach of its global network to deliver payment products and services to the more than four billion mobile devices in market around the globe. Visa will continue to work in collaboration with financial institutions, wireless operators, handset manufacturers and technology providers to develop and test innovative mobile payment solutions in four key areas – Payments, Money Transfer, Alerts, and Marketing. For more information about Visa Mobile, please visit http://visa.com/mobile.

About Visa

Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, with $265 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 2009, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the 6th largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 2,851 banking offices and 5,175 ATMs in 24 states, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at usbank.com.