U.S. and Europe Retrospective Responsibility Plans

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Retrospective Responsibility Plan [Abstract]

U.S. and Europe Retrospective Responsibility Plans

Note 4—U.S. and Europe Retrospective Responsibility Plans

U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan

Under the terms of the U.S. retrospective responsibility plan, the Company maintains an escrow account from which settlements of, or judgments in, certain litigation referred to as the “U.S. covered litigation” are paid. The escrow funds are held in money market investments along with interest income earned, less applicable taxes, and are classified as restricted cash equivalents on the consolidated balance sheets. The balance of the escrow account was $902 million at June 30, 2019 and $1.5 billion at September 30, 2018. The Company paid $600 million from the litigation escrow account during the nine months ended June 30, 2019. See Note 13—Legal Matters.

The accrual related to the U.S. covered litigation could be either higher or lower than the litigation escrow account balance. The Company did not record an additional accrual for the U.S. covered litigation during the nine months ended June 30, 2019. See Note 13—Legal Matters.

Europe Retrospective Responsibility Plan

Visa Inc., Visa International and Visa Europe are parties to certain existing and potential litigation relating to the setting of multilateral interchange fee rates in the Visa Europe territory (the “VE territory covered litigation”). Under the terms of the Europe retrospective responsibility plan, the Company is entitled to recover certain losses resulting from VE territory covered litigation (the “VE territory covered losses”) through a periodic adjustment to the class A common stock conversion rates applicable to the UK&I and Europe preferred stock. VE territory covered losses are recorded in “right to recover for covered losses” within equity before the corresponding adjustment to the applicable conversion rate is effected. Adjustments to the conversion rate may be executed once in any six-month period unless a single, individual loss greater than €20 million is incurred, in which case, the six-month limitation does not apply. When the adjustment to the conversion rate is made, the amount previously recorded in “right to recover for covered losses” as contra-equity is then recorded against the book value of the preferred stock within stockholders’ equity.

During the three and nine months ended June 30, 2019, the Company recovered $2 million and $8 million, respectively, of VE territory covered losses through adjustments to the class A common stock conversion rates applicable to the UK&I and Europe preferred stock. The conversion rates applicable to the UK&I and Europe preferred stock were reduced from 12.955 and 13.888, respectively, as of September 30, 2018 to 12.936 and 13.884, respectively, as of June 30, 2019.

The following table sets forth the activities related to VE territory covered losses in preferred stock and “right to recover for covered losses” within equity during the nine months ended June 30, 2019. VE territory covered losses incurred reflect settlements with merchants and additional legal costs. See Note 13—Legal Matters.



	Preferred Stock						Right to Recover for Covered Losses
	UK&I			Europe			Right to Recover for Covered Losses
	(in millions)
Balance as of September 30, 2018	$	2,291		$	3,179		$	(7	)
VE territory covered losses incurred	—			—			(170		)
Recovery through conversion rate adjustment	(6		)	(2		)	8
Balance as of June 30, 2019	$	2,285		$	3,177		$	(169	)

The following table⁽¹⁾ sets forth the as-converted value of the preferred stock available to recover VE territory covered losses compared to the book value of preferred shares recorded in stockholders’ equity within the Company’s consolidated balance sheets as of June 30, 2019 and September 30, 2018:



	June 30, 2019						September 30, 2018
	As-Converted Value of Preferred Stock⁽²⁾			Book Value of Preferred Stock			As-Converted Value of Preferred Stock⁽³⁾			Book Value of Preferred Stock
	(in millions)
UK&I preferred stock	$	5,569		$	2,285		$	4,823		$	2,291
Europe preferred stock	7,606			3,177			6,580			3,179
Total	13,175			5,462			11,403			5,470
Less: right to recover for covered losses	(169		)	(169		)	(7		)	(7		)
Total recovery for covered losses available	$	13,006		$	5,293		$	11,396		$	5,463


⁽¹⁾	Figures in the table may not recalculate exactly due to rounding. As-converted and book values are based on unrounded numbers.

⁽²⁾

The as-converted value of preferred stock is calculated as the product of: (a) 2 million and 3 million shares of the UK&I and Europe preferred stock outstanding, respectively, as of June 30, 2019; (b) 12.936 and 13.884, the class A common stock conversion rate applicable to the UK&I and Europe preferred stock as of June 30, 2019, respectively; and (c) $173.55, Visa’s class A common stock closing stock price as of June 30, 2019.

⁽³⁾

The as-converted value of preferred stock is calculated as the product of: (a) 2 million and 3 million shares of the UK&I and Europe preferred stock outstanding, respectively, as of September 30, 2018; (b) 12.955 and 13.888, the class A common stock conversion rate applicable to the UK&I and Europe preferred stock as of September 30, 2018, respectively; and (c) $150.09, Visa’s class A common stock closing stock price as of September 30, 2018.