![[article image]](https://cacm.acm.org/system/assets/0003/8025/082620_Jenny_Kane-Associated_Press__Visa.large.jpg?1598460738&1598460738 "Visa's backup system will be available to banks who sign up for the service starting in October.")
Visa Inc. said Wednesday it has developed a more advanced artificial intelligence system that can approve or decline credit and debit transactions on behalf of banks whose own networks are down.
The decision to approve or deny a transaction typically is made by the bank. But bank networks can crash because of natural disasters, buggy software or other reasons. Visa said its backup system will be available to banks who sign up for the service starting in October.
The technology is "an incredible first step in helping us reduce the impact of an outage," said Rajat Taneja, president of technology for Visa. The financial services company is the largest U.S. card network, as measured both by the number of cards in circulation and by transactions.