Note 3—U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan and Potential Visa Europe Liabilities

U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan

The Company has established several related mechanisms designed to address potential liability under certain litigation referred to as the “U.S. covered litigation." These mechanisms are included in and referred to as the U.S. retrospective responsibility plan, or the plan, and consist of a litigation escrow agreement, the conversion feature of the Company's shares of class B common stock, the indemnification obligations of the Visa U.S.A. members, an interchange judgment sharing agreement, a loss sharing agreement, and an omnibus agreement, as amended.

U.S. covered litigation consists of:


•	the Discover Litigation. Discover Financial Services Inc. v. Visa U.S.A. Inc., Case No. 04-CV-07844 (S.D.N.Y) (settled);


•	the American Express Litigation. American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc. v. Visa U.S.A. Inc. et al., No. 04-CV-0897 (S.D.N.Y.), which the Company refers to as the American Express litigation (settled);


•	the Attridge Litigation. Attridge v. Visa U.S.A. Inc. et al., Case No. CGC-04-436920 (Cal. Super.)(dismissed with prejudice);

•

the Interchange Multidistrict Litigation. In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, 1:05-md-01720-JG-JO (E.D.N.Y.) or MDL 1720, including all cases currently included in MDL 1720, any other case that includes claims for damages relating to the period prior to the Company's IPO that has been or is transferred for coordinated or consolidated pre-trial proceedings at any time to MDL 1720 by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation or otherwise included at any time in MDL 1720 by order of any court of competent jurisdiction and Kendall v. Visa U.S.A., Inc. et al., Case No. CO4-4276 JSW (N.D. Cal.);


•	any claim that challenges the reorganization or the consummation thereof; provided that such claim is transferred for coordinated or consolidated pre-trial proceedings at any time to MDL 1720 by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation or otherwise included at any time in MDL 1720 by order of any court of competent jurisdiction; and


•	any case brought after October 22, 2015, by an opt out of the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class in MDL 1720 that arises out of facts or circumstances substantially similar to those alleged in MDL 1720 and that is not transferred to or otherwise included in MDL 1720.

Litigation escrow agreement. In accordance with the litigation escrow agreement, the Company maintains an escrow account, from which monetary liabilities from settlements of, or judgments in, the U.S. covered litigation are paid. The amount of the escrow is determined by the board of directors and the Company's litigation committee, all members of which are affiliated with, or act for, certain Visa U.S.A. members. The escrow funds are held in money market investments along with the interest earned, less applicable taxes, and are classified as restricted cash on the consolidated balance sheets.

The following table sets forth the changes in the litigation escrow account:



	Fiscal 2015			Fiscal 2014
	(in millions)
Balance at October 1	$	1,498		$	49
Return of takedown payments from settlement fund into the litigation escrow account	—			1,056
Deposits into the litigation escrow account	—			450
Payments to opt-out merchants⁽¹⁾	(426		)	(57		)
Balance at September 30	$	1,072		$	1,498


⁽¹⁾	These payments are associated with the interchange multidistrict litigation. See Note 20—Legal Matters.

An accrual for the U.S. covered litigation and a change to the litigation provision are recorded when loss is deemed to be probable and reasonably estimable. In making this determination, the Company evaluates available information, including but not limited to recommendations made by the litigation committee. 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 fiscal 2015. See Note 20—Legal Matters.

Conversion feature. Under the terms of the plan, when the Company funds the litigation escrow account, the shares of class B common stock are subject to dilution through an adjustment to the conversion rate of the shares of class B common stock to shares of class A common stock. This has the same economic effect on earnings per share as repurchasing the Company's class A common stock, because it reduces the class B conversion rate and consequently the as-converted class A common stock share count. See Note 14—Stockholders' Equity.

Indemnification obligations. To the extent that amounts available under the litigation escrow arrangement and other agreements in the plan are insufficient to fully resolve the U.S. covered litigation, the Company will use commercially reasonable efforts to enforce the indemnification obligations of Visa U.S.A.'s members for such excess amount, including but not limited to enforcing indemnification obligations pursuant to Visa U.S.A.'s certificate of incorporation and bylaws and in accordance with their membership agreements.

Interchange judgment sharing agreement. Visa U.S.A. and Visa International have entered into an interchange judgment sharing agreement with certain Visa U.S.A. members that have been named as defendants in the interchange multidistrict litigation, which is described in Note 20—Legal Matters. Under this judgment sharing agreement, Visa U.S.A. members that are signatories will pay their membership proportion of the amount of a final judgment not allocated to the conduct of MasterCard.

Loss sharing agreement. Visa has entered into a loss sharing agreement with Visa U.S.A., Visa International and certain Visa U.S.A. members. The loss sharing agreement provides for the indemnification of Visa U.S.A., Visa International and, in certain circumstances, Visa with respect to: (i) the amount of a final judgment paid by Visa U.S.A. or Visa International in the U.S. covered litigation after the operation of the interchange judgment sharing agreement, plus any amounts reimbursable to the interchange judgment sharing agreement signatories; or (ii) the damages portion of a settlement of a U.S. covered litigation that is approved as required under Visa U.S.A.'s certificate of incorporation by the vote of Visa U.S.A.'s specified voting members. The several obligation of each bank that is a party to the loss sharing agreement will equal the amount of any final judgment enforceable against Visa U.S.A., Visa International or any other signatory to the interchange judgment sharing agreement, or the amount of any approved settlement of a U.S. covered litigation, multiplied by such bank's then-current membership proportion as calculated in accordance with Visa U.S.A.'s certificate of incorporation.

On October 22, 2015, Visa entered into an amendment to the loss sharing agreement. The amendment includes within the scope of U.S. covered litigation any action brought after the amendment by an opt out from the Rule 23(b)(3) Settlement Class in MDL 1720 that arises out of facts or circumstances substantially similar to those alleged in MDL 1720 and that is not transferred to or otherwise included in MDL 1720. On the same date, Visa entered into amendments to the interchange judgment sharing agreement and omnibus agreement that include any such action within the scope of those agreements as well.

Omnibus agreement. Visa entered into an omnibus agreement with MasterCard and certain Visa U.S.A. members that confirmed and memorialized the signatories’ intentions with respect to the loss sharing agreement, the interchange judgment sharing agreement and other agreements relating to the interchange multidistrict litigation, see Note 20—Legal Matters. Under the omnibus agreement, the monetary portion of any settlement of the interchange multidistrict litigation covered by the omnibus agreement would be divided into a MasterCard portion at 33.3333% and a Visa portion at 66.6667%. In addition, the monetary portion of any judgment assigned to Visa-related claims in accordance with the omnibus agreement would be treated as a Visa portion. Visa would have no liability for the monetary portion of any judgment assigned to MasterCard-related claims in accordance with the omnibus agreement, and if a judgment is not assigned to Visa-related claims or MasterCard-related claims in accordance with the omnibus agreement, then any monetary liability would be divided into a MasterCard portion at 33.3333% and a Visa portion at 66.6667%. The Visa portion of a settlement or judgment covered by the omnibus agreement would be allocated in accordance with specified provisions of the Company's U.S. retrospective responsibility plan. The litigation provision on the consolidated statements of operations is not impacted by the execution of the omnibus agreement.

On August 26, 2014, Visa entered into an amendment to the omnibus agreement. The omnibus amendment makes applicable to certain settlements in opt-out cases in the interchange multidistrict litigation the settlement-sharing provisions of the omnibus agreement, pursuant to which the monetary portion of any settlement of the interchange multidistrict litigation covered by the omnibus agreement would be divided into a MasterCard portion at 33.3333% and a Visa portion at 66.6667%. The omnibus amendment also provides that in the event of termination of the class Settlement Agreement, Visa and MasterCard would make mutually acceptable arrangements so that Visa shall have received two-thirds and MasterCard shall have received one-third of the total of (i) the sums paid to defendants as a result of the termination of the Settlement Agreement and (ii) the takedown payments previously made to defendants.

Potential Visa Europe Liabilities

On November 2, 2015, the Company and Visa Europe entered into a transaction agreement pursuant to which the Company agreed to acquire Visa Europe. Closing of the acquisition is subject to various conditions including regulatory approvals, and is expected to occur in the fiscal third quarter of 2016. Visa Inc., Visa Europe or their affiliates are, or may become, a party to certain existing and potential litigation relating to the setting of multilateral interchange fee rates in the Visa Europe territory. The background to the existing proceedings is within European Competition Proceedings and U.K. Merchant Litigation in Note 20—Legal Matters. The Company has obtained certain protection in respect of losses resulting from existing and potential litigation through the preferred stock and the U.K. loss sharing agreement, and has agreed to certain terms regarding the conduct of such litigation, all of which is conditioned on the closing of the acquisition of Visa Europe by the Company. See Note 2—Visa Europe.