Card Networks, Banks Brace for Irene

Visa Inc. and other financial companies are taking steps to prevent possible disruptions from Hurricane Irene.

Visa's engineers are "closely monitoring" the weather on the East Coast and are "prepared to take action," a spokeswoman for the San Francisco credit card network wrote in an email on Friday.

The company, which processes more than 60 billion card transactions annually, operates a data center in Virginia it opened in late 2009. The center receives a live feed of weather information and has back-up systems for power and cooling.

"During severe weather conditions Visa engineers are able to seamlessly activate power generators to avoid any fluctuation in power supply to the data center," the spokeswoman wrote.

The center was built to "California earthquake standards" and can withstand winds of 170 miles per hour or more.

"Visa is well prepared for natural disasters," wrote Sanjay Sakhrani, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. who recently toured the data center, in a research note on Thursday. "This was evidenced by the fact that the company did not skip a beat despite" an earthquake that occurred in Virginia this week "while we were in attendance at the facilities."

MasterCard Inc. said it also is monitoring systems to ensure they stay running.

"Potential infrastructure challenges outside of our control, such as power and phone line availability, will require close attention," a spokesman for the Purchase, N.Y., card network, wrote in an email.

Hurricane Irene was making its way up the East Coast Friday, prompting mandatory evacuations of various cities, including parts of metropolitan New York, where city officials also announced public transportation would shut down.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it was extending Friday hours at 376 New York City branches to 8 p.m. to accommodate customers affected by the hurricane. It plans to limit hours at New York City branches on Saturday, with most closing at 11 a.m. to allow employees to take city transit home before its closure.

Discover Financial Services, which operates a call center in New Castle, Del., is transferring operations to other customer service facilities as necessary, a spokesman wrote in an email.

In designated disaster areas, the Riverwoods, Ill., card lender and processor may waive late fee and minimum payment requirements to assist cardholders and merchants, he wrote.