NEW YORK - Responding to recent credit card reform legislation signed into law, Visa Inc. (Visa) said earlier this week that the law would compel the payment card industry to restructure, especially as revenue expectations decrease.

"It's going to cause the whole industry to rethink itself," said Joseph Saunders, Visa's CEO.

The new law takes effect in February 2010 and restricts card issuers from raising interest rates on existing cardholder balances, charging certain fees, and imposing certain penalties on cardholders.

Saunders predicted that as credit card use declines, debit card use will increase and represent "a significant part of [Visa’s] future.”

However, despite the impending change, Saunders doesn’t predict too much disruption — at least for Visa.

"It doesn't look like we are going to fall off a cliff. It isn't a tsunami. It is going to be an issue that we are going to have to deal with," he said, adding that Visa does not expect the legislation to affect its earnings or revenue forecasts.