Visa Names Former JPMorgan Chase Retail Head as New CEO

Visa this morning announced that its board of directors has elected Charles W. Scharf, formerly CEO of retail financial services for JPMorgan Chase, to succeed Joseph W. Saunders as the card scheme's Chief Executive Officer, effective Nov. 1. Scharf is a former director at Visa.

Scharf is currently the managing director at One Equity Partners, which manages $10 billion of investments and commitments for JPMorgan Chase. He previously spent nine years at JPMorgan Chase and its predecessors as the CEO of retail financial services, a major issuer of Visa-branded cards. The business generated revenue of $30 billion annually with 130,000 employees.

Prior to that, he served as CFO of Bank One from 2000 to 2002 and spent 13 years at Citigroup and its predecessor companies, serving as CFO for Citigroup’s global corporate and investment bank prior to joining Bank One. Bank One was acquired by Chase in 2004. Scharf also served on the board of Visa from 2003-2011.

Saunders, who has served as the company’s CEO since 2007, will continue his duties as executive chairman of Visa during the period of his employment, which extends to March 31, 2013.

"The payments industry is an exciting place to be with both the continued migration across the globe to electronic payments and the development of ground-breaking new technologies, and Visa plays an important role in enabling both," Scharf said in a written statement. "Visa is uniquely positioned in this industry to continue its robust growth by providing innovative solutions to its financial institution clients, merchants and their customers everywhere."

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Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio