A Big Name
Begins Anew
An IPO and accompanying reorganization at Visa also meant a
fresh start for enterprise risk management.
BY JEFFREY KUTLER
The venerable Visa card brand traces its history back to the 1970s – and, in its earliest incarnation as Bank of America’s BankAmericard, to 1958. Its products have volved continuously along with the credit-fueled in-
ternational consumer economy, but Visa, the company, has nev-
er been through anything nearly as radical as the transformation
brought on by its March 2008 conversion into a public company.
Along with that came whole new management structures and dis-
ciplines, not least the compliance, control and risk management
requirements that raised the profile of – and recast the challenges
facing – Ellen Richey, Visa’s global head of enterprise risk.
