VISA ISSUES STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO SUPREME COURT'S RULING

June 28, 2006

"Today's ruling doesn't change the fact that American Express still faces the problem it has always faced: consumers who want an American Express card, despite being accepted at millions fewer merchant locations than Visa worldwide, either already have one, or know how to get one. Access to the market has never been American Express' problem --- they have a product problem. They have cultivated a reputation of higher prices and exclusivity that the broader consumer market and many merchants have not embraced.