Ep. 69: Cashless, with Visa’s Al Kelly

“In the last three months we’ve probably have had five years’ worth of acceleration in terms of e‐commerce. … People are realizing that cash is a way that germs get transmitted. Currency is dirty.”

When the pandemic hit in January, Al Kelly made a vow to have zero layoffs at Visa. Fortunately, as one of the world’s foremost purveyors of e-commerce, they soon found that 97% of their 20,000 employees were able to work from home, and they shuttered all but five of their 130 international offices. Now, as they continue to service their 1.1 billion worldwide cardholders, they are partnering with federal, state and foreign governments to distribute much-needed stimulus and relief funds. 

“Almost every medical expert I've talked to says there will be a resurgence of COVID‐19 in the fall,” he tells Mike. “We just need to make sure that we can manage through it so that we don't have to go back into lockdown. For our part at Visa, I am in no rush to move our employees back to offices.”