(April 19, 2006) Speaking to an audience of merchant processors, acquirers, and independent sales organizations, Visa USA’s president and chief executive today promised the giant bank card network will become more open to non-issuers and responsive to their concerns, including matters related to operating regulations and data security. Appointed only nine months ago after a career that included running a merchant operation, John Philip Coghlan outlined a plan by which Visa will seek to win acceptance in more locations where consumers use cash and checks and convert a greater share of those transactions to cards.

Giving the keynote address at the Electronic Transactions Association’s annual trade show in Las Vegas, Coghlan conceded Visa has a long road to hoe with constituents of the electronic payments system who have long faulted the association for a high-handed approach to issues ranging from pricing to network rules. “Visa has had a great relationship with some but not all our stakeholders,” Coghlan said, referring to the impression he gained after taking office and visiting with merchants, acquirers, and other organizations. “I heard from you that Visa needs to be more flexible, more responsive. We’re on that path.” Indeed, Coghlan promised the audience that Visa will be much more forthcoming with information. “My impression is that Visa operated on a need-to-know basis, but the truth is we all need to know,” he said. “We’re taking steps.”

Among the changes, he said, could be increased openness about Visa’s operating regulations and new incentives to spur quicker adoption among industry participants of data-security rules Visa and other networks put in place early last year. Limited—or no—access to network operating regs has long been a sore point with ISOs and merchants, but Coghlan hinted Visa may open the books at least a crack. “We’re working on that,” he said, adding the association must ensure any disclosure doesn’t compromise its competitive position or undermine security protections. Coghlan’s reference to incentives for compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard follows a year that saw major hacker breaches of databases containing sensitive card information, including PINs for debit cards. “We need to do a better job with data security,” Coghlan said.

Eyeing opportunities in markets that rely heavily on cash and checks, Coghlan credited ISOs with helping to drive up the number of Visa acceptance locations by 7% last year. Now, he said, Visa will capitalize on technologies such as contactless cards to drive volume in these locations. He also pointed to bill payments as a market ripe for Visa. Of $1.4 trillion in consumer and small-business bill payments, only 13% has been converted to electronic payments, he said. “We have yet to scratch the surface” of this market, he noted.

Coghlan took over Visa USA in July, succeeding long-time president Carl Pascarella. His most immediate prior position was president of the institutional business at discount broker Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.