MCC Announces Visa Inc. as Its 2012 Corporate Award Winner

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - Apr 25, 2012) - The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has announced that Visa Inc. will be honored with the organization's Corporate Award, which recognizes an American company for demonstrating exemplary commitment to trade or investment in one or more MCC partner countries. The MCC Corporate Award winner, along with the winners of the MCC Country Commitment Award and MCC's Next Generation Award, will be honored at its inaugural Forum on Global Development today.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation's Corporate Award is recognizing Visa for its commitment to investing in sustainable development by expanding access to financial services, including their national partnership with the government of Rwanda, initiatives to empower women by helping close the mobile phone gender gap, and programs that provide financial literacy education to millions. Visa will be recognized at MCC's Forum on Global Development, a unique occasion for visionaries and practitioners in international development to meet, exchange ideas and honor three innovators for their demonstrated commitment to creative approaches to helping the world's poor.

"Deepening financial literacy and expanding financial services for the unbanked and underserved throughout the developing world are key components for sustainable poverty reduction and economic growth," said MCC CEO Daniel W. Yohannes. "Through its groundbreaking programs, Visa is making remarkable strides in these areas, and MCC shares its commitment to lasting progress and prosperity. We are proud to stand with a partner like Visa as we seek to achieve our mission of reducing poverty through economic growth."

In 2011, Visa and the Government of Rwanda announced a Charter of Collaboration to develop localized solutions to extend access to financial services to citizens throughout the country. Visa also supports some of the world's leading nongovernmental organizations, such as joining with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Australian Agency for International Development to support the GSMA mWomen Program and its goal to reduce the mobile phone gender gap and improve women's access to life-enhancing financial services. Visa also provides free financial literacy programs to millions around the world with a goal to reach 20 million people worldwide by May 2013 -- a commitment Visa announced at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in 2009.

"At Visa, we believe that addressing financial exclusion should be a priority issue on the world's agenda," said Douglas Michelman, Global Head of Corporate Relations. "We are proud of the work we are doing to apply our products, services, network, partnerships, and financial literacy programs to advance financial inclusion, and we are humbled to be recognized by the Millennium Challenge Corporation for our contributions."

At the Forum, the award recipients will join Gayle Smith, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director at the National Security Council; Sheila Herrling, MCC's Vice President for Policy and Evaluation; and Michael Gerson, columnist for the Washington Post and senior advisor to the ONE Campaign, in a panel discussion about the value of foreign aid. As a learning institution, MCC aims to foster dialogue across a wide spectrum of people and organizations with the ultimate goal of providing the best results and sustainable impact for those in need around the world.

About MCC

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an innovative and independent U.S. Government foreign aid agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty through the promotion of sustainable economic growth. MCC is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people.

For more information about MCC and its programs around the world, please go to www.mcc.gov.

About Visa Inc.

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks -- VisaNet -- that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa uses its products, interoperable global processing network, mobile and security capabilities, and payments expertise to help facilitate financial inclusion at scale.

For more information about Visa's work in financial inclusion, visit www.corporate.visa.com.