United Services Automobile Association (USAA), a US-based credit and debit card issuer, has switched its portfolio to Visa from MasterCard.
The move brings an end to a relationship that spanned almost 30 years between USAA and MasterCard.
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According to the Nilson report, USAA was MasterCard’s biggest debit-card issuer, with $26bn of purchases made on its cards last year.
USAA said in a statement that the MasterCard-branded credit and debit cards will be changed for Visa cards throughout 2016, with customers allowed to retain the benefits of the old cards.
"As our primary network, this provides us the opportunity to provide more benefits, including the elimination of foreign transaction fees for all USAA Visa credit cards in 2016," the statement added.
The new cards will be embedded with computer chip to ensure additional security.
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By GlobalDataUSAA, based in San Antonio, offers financial services to its members such as insurance, banking and retirement planning as well as advice to current and former members of the US military and their families.
