SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today released the annual global Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE) index, which estimates that global commercial spending grew to $90.2 trillion in 2008. The annual Visa CCE report provides standardized tracking of business and government spending globally and is recognized as an industry benchmark for measuring commercial spending.

The 2008 CCE is estimated to have grown at 10.9 percent from $81.3 trillion in 2007. The strongest growth rates were found in the Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region at 23.7 percent and the Latin America/Caribbean region at 17.4 percent. Europe held the largest share of global CCE spend, followed by Asia Pacific; the United States; Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America/Caribbean and Canada. In this year’s index, Asia Pacific’s spending share surpassed the United States’ for the first time.

“As financial institutions around the world look to optimize their commercial payment programs, the CCE data provides a valuable tool to help show where businesses and government are spending,” said Darren Parslow, Head of Global Commercial Products, Visa Inc. “Visa is committed to ongoing innovation in commercial payment products, and we watch the CCE index carefully as it provides insight into how Visa payments products and services can continue to meet commercial payment needs.”

CCE Around the Globe

Listed below is a breakdown of estimated 2008 commercial spending by global geographic areas:

CCE Methodology

The CCE index captures business-to-business purchases to acquire goods and services used in production, wholesale and retail purchases of final goods, business capital expenditures and government spending on goods and services. Adjustments are made to exclude capitalized expenditures such as construction and durable defense spending. Calculations measure transactions at basic prices, which include taxes on production. Retroactive adjustments are made as necessary to include revisions in officially published statistics and economic data for current and prior years.

Data sources used to calculate the U.S. CCE index include the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and U.S. Census Bureau, which conducts the Retail and Wholesale Trade Surveys. A variety of data sources were used in the calculation of the Global CCE index including the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Eurostat database, the STructural ANalysis (STAN) database, the General Government Accounts from the National Accounts of OECD Countries, the United Nations Statistics Division National Accounts Main Aggregates Database, Economist Intelligence Unit proprietary databases and government data from several countries. A model developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit was used to estimate results for countries where government data was unavailable.

About Visa Inc.: 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.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections. These statements can be identified by the terms "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will" and similar expressions which are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any underlying assumptions are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding certain of Visa's goals and expectations with respect to adjusted earnings per share, revenue, adjusted operating margin, and free cash flow, and the growth rate in those items, as well as other measures of economic performance.

By their nature, forward-looking statements: (i) speak only as of the date they are made, (ii) are not guarantees of future performance or results and (iii) are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict or quantify. Therefore, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including all the risks discussed in Part 1, Item 1A - "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2008. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements, which speak only as of the date of this presentation. Unless required to do so under U.S. federal securities laws or other applicable laws, we do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements.