The Board of Directors of Visa Inc., acting through the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee (“Committee”), is responsible for overseeing our political compliance program, as well as lobbying activities and corporate political contributions. Our Global Government Engagement Department manages Visa’s political engagement and is responsible for implementing the Political Participation, Lobbying, and Contributions (PPLC) Policy, which is overseen by the Committee and was established to:
- promote ethical and transparent political engagement by Visa,
- ensure that our political spending enhances shareholder value,
- facilitate our compliance with applicable laws and reporting requirements, and,
- align our government engagement activities in support of Visa’s corporate purpose to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.
Click here to read our Political Participation, Lobbying, and Contributions Policy.
Under the Policy:
- The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee must pre-approve the use of corporate funds for political contributions, including contributions made to individual candidates, trade associations to support targeted political campaigns, contributions to tax exempt organizations for political activities, contributions to organizations registered under Section 527 of the U.S. federal tax code to support political activities, and contributions to sponsor political parties and business forums.
- Visa's Global Government Engagement Department must prepare and present to the Committee an annual report itemizing our corporate political contributions and disclose that report on our website. As part of Visa’s Annual Political Engagement Report, the company will provide a list of the names of all U.S. trade associations to which Visa pays annual membership dues that are $25,000 or more, and if applicable, we will disclose the portion of such dues that are used for political contributions, as well as Corporate Political Contributions and Visa PAC Contributions. Links to our current and historical Annual Political Engagement reports are included in the following section.
- Visa's Global Government Engagement Department must also prepare and present to the Committee an annual report itemizing our lobbying expenditures, which must include information regarding our memberships in and payments to trade associations and industry groups for lobbying purposes, and tax-exempt organizations that write and endorse model legislation. This report is not published; however, we also file quarterly reports disclosing our U.S. federal lobbying activities with the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Secretary of the U.S. Senate. A list of our memberships in tax exempt organizations that write and endorse model legislation is available under the Lobbying section below.
- Directors and employees are prohibited from using company resources to promote their personal political views, causes or candidates, and the company will not directly or indirectly reimburse any personal political contributions or expenses. Consistent with applicable law, Visa will not take any adverse employment action against an employee on the basis of his or her personal political affiliation or lawful political activity.
- Directors and employees may not lobby government officials on the company's behalf absent the pre-approval of our Global Government Engagement Department. As such, our lobbying and political spending seek to promote the interests of the company and its stockholders and advancing our corporate purpose, and not the personal political preferences of our directors or employees.