Visa Inc. said it hoped to raise up to $10 billion in an initial public offering, expected early next year

. As part of the IPO plan, Visa said it agreed to pay American Express more than $2 billion to settle an antitrust suit filed by American Express against Visa and MasterCard over rules that prohibited their member banks from also issuing Amex-branded cards. In a series of pre-IPO transactions, Visa Canada, Visa U.S.A. and Visa International last month became subsidiaries of Visa Inc. Visa Europe remains a membership association and will become a licensee of, and own a minority interest in, Visa Inc.