The news: Visa’s net revenues rose 14% YoY to $11.6 billion, powered by resilient consumer and business spending, per its Q3 2026 earnings.

Despite beating investors’ expectations, Visa announced its intentions to slash its staff by 2,600 employees, or roughly 7% of its global workforce.

Diving into the results: Consumers are still spending in spite of enduring macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from the war in Iran and tariff policies.

• Visa’s US credit payment volume growth rose 10% YoY, up 1 percentage point quarter over quarter (QoQ).
• US debit payment volume growth reached 9% YoY, representing a 2 percentage point rise QoQ.
• International credit payment volume growth sunk to 10% from 12% QoQ.
• And international debit payment volume growth decreased to 13% from 18% QoQ.

Visa noted that US payments volume growth was spurred by the combination of higher tax refunds, the cost of fuel, the timing of promotional shopping events, strong Visa Direct growth, and FIFA-related spending. World Cup spending in particular had a dramatic impact on host cities:

• Card present transactions were up as much as 20% in select host cities on days of matches.
• Weekly tapped transit transactions hit a peak of 40% YoY growth in US host cities.
• And inbound cross-border card present spending increased roughly 25% YoY in US host cities from June 11 to 30.

CFO Chris Suh noted during the earnings call that growth across consumer spend bands “saw incremental improvements from Q2,” with the highest spending band continuing to grow the quickest, pointing to enduring K-shaped economy trends persisting.

Implications for payment providers: Consumers are hungry for rewards linked to experiences like sporting events, concerts, and travel. To capture the richest payment volume, players should gear their rollouts to premium spenders first, who remain the dominant driver of non-discretionary spending in the US—the top 10% of US households spend more than the bottom 40%, per the Bank of America Institute.

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