The card company attributed its sponship to the fast-growing popularity in a region, where Visa has about 40 million premium cardholders of its Visa Gold, Platinum and Infinite cards. Jim Allhusen, Visa's executive vice-president and general manager for Greater China, said the event not only provided a stronger profile for the brand, but also allowed Visa to extend "pass-through" rights such as use of event logos, themes and premiums to member banks.
Allhusen said the event's China base would also allow Visa to improve acceptance of credit card usage in a market, which is still largely cash-based. "Most of the cards issued in China are debit cards as Chinese people are still in the habit of spending 'yesterday's money', not 'tomorrow's money'," said Allhusen.
