The news: Both Visa and Mastercard’s revenues beat analysts’ expectations, per Bloomberg and Barron’s, boosted by resilient consumer spending and strong growth for value-added services.

• Visa’s net revenues increased 17% YoY to $11.2 billion, per fiscal Q2 2026 earnings (ended March 31, 2026).
• Mastercard’s net revenues rose 16% YoY to $8.398 billion, per Q1 2026 earnings.

How cardholders fared: Despite macroeconomic uncertainty and the war in Iran, consumers are still spending.

• Visa’s total payment volume increased 9% YoY; US debit and credit card volume rose 7% and 10% YoY, respectively.
• Mastercard’s total switched volume grew 9% YoY; US debit/prepaid and credit/charge programs increased 5.7% and 6.3%, respectively.

Visa CFO Christopher Suh noted consumers’ resilience during the company’s earnings call, with discretionary and nondiscretionary spending standing strong. Ecommerce spend outpaced in-store retail spend, and travel spend across both consumer and commercial buckets was strong. 

Suh underscored that the highest spending band’s spending growth outstripped all other consumer groups; however, Suh did “not see signs” of lower-spending consumers weakening.

Mastercard CFO Sachin Mehra said Capital One debit migration suppressed the network’s overall growth; volume ex Capital One rose 7%. He also noted that “underlying consumer and business spend remains healthy."

What’s next? 

Marketing. Value-added services continue to lift revenues for Visa, growing 27% YoY to $3.3 billion. Visa anticipates that sponsorship opportunities and marketing services around the FIFA World Cup will be significant growth drivers. The network giant is also tapping into expansion opportunities in new arenas like music, citing successful activations in Asia-Pacific for a K-pop tour.

Stablecoins. Both Visa and Mastercard reaffirmed their commitments to crypto solutions. Visa said its stablecoin settlement surpassed a $7 billion annualized run rate; to continue growth, the network partnered with five blockchains for transactions. Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach emphasized the success of its crypto co-brands and said acquiring BVNK will deepen commitments to stablecoin settlements worldwide for “speed, 24/7 availability, and programmability.”

Implications for payment providers: Consumers are hanging tough with less-than-ideal macroeconomic conditions, but they’re feeling strained. The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment plunged to a record low of 49.8 in April, down 4.9% YoY. 

As lower-income consumers hold steady with spend rates, issuers should consider more lower- and mid-tier payment products, in addition to their robust premium card portfolios, serve an often overlooked consumer band looking for affordability and value-oriented solutions.

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