Mastercard NYSE: MA reported third-quarter 2026 net revenue growth of 14% and net income growth of 18% year over year on a non-GAAP, currency-neutral basis, as the company cited continued consumer and business spending, growth in payment volumes and demand for value-added services.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Miebach said the company’s network and business remained resilient despite economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Mastercard expanded its acceptance footprint to more than 200 million locations and said it has added 300 million digital access points globally. Merchant acceptance rose 20% year over year in the first half of 2026, according to Miebach.
“Consumers continue to spend, businesses continue to invest, and commerce continues to expand,” Miebach said.
Quarterly Results and Volume Trends
Chief Financial Officer Ling Hai, making his first appearance on Mastercard’s earnings call in the role, said third-quarter revenue exceeded the company’s expectations, helped by business strength as well as the timing of service projects and payment-network deals. He said the timing benefit in the third quarter would have an offsetting effect in the fourth quarter.
- Net revenue increased 14% on a currency-neutral basis.
- Operating expenses rose 12%, including a 1-percentage-point increase from acquisitions and dispositions.
- Operating income grew 15%.
- Net income increased 18%, while earnings per share rose 21% to $5.31.
- Share repurchases contributed $0.16 to EPS. Mastercard repurchased $3 billion of stock during the quarter and an additional $648 million through Oct. 26.
Worldwide gross dollar volume increased 7% year over year on a local-currency basis. U.S. gross dollar volume rose 6%, with credit growth of 10% and debit growth of 1%; the debit figure included the impact of the Capital One debit migration. Outside the U.S., gross dollar volume rose 8%, including 6% growth in credit and 10% growth in debit.
Cross-border volume grew 11% globally, while switched transactions increased 9%. Contactless transactions accounted for 81% of in-person switched purchase transactions, up five percentage points from a year earlier. Mastercard said it had 3.8 billion Mastercard and Maestro-branded cards issued globally, up 5% year over year.
Payment-network revenue grew 11%, driven by domestic and cross-border transaction volume, pricing and rebates and incentives. Revenue from value-added services and solutions increased 19%, reflecting demand for consumer acquisition and engagement tools, business and marketing insights, security solutions, digital and authentication offerings, and pricing.
Network Expansion, Issuer Wins and Commercial Payments
Miebach highlighted a range of issuer and partnership wins across markets. Mastercard renewed relationships with Handelsbanken and Swedbank in the Nordics, as well as DSGV and DZ Bank in Germany. In China, the company cited a World Hilton co-brand agreement with Bank of Communications and a consumer debit agreement with Bank of China.
In the U.S., Mastercard said Pinnacle Financial Partners’ newly combined bank would shift its full issuing portfolio to the network beginning in 2027, covering consumer credit, debit, small-business and commercial cards. In India, the company signed a small-business agreement with HDFC Bank that is expected to add 3 million cards to Mastercard’s network.
The company also discussed its Essential Debit program for financially underserved consumers. Mastercard signed 15 such programs across seven markets during the year, addressing up to 70 million unbanked adults in those markets, Miebach said. Separately, the company said it had won 100 new affluent credit and debit programs and launched more than 25 World Legend programs this year.
In commercial payments, Mastercard pointed to expanded virtual-card distribution partnerships, including an integration with Tungsten Automation. The company said its travel-related wins during the quarter were expected to generate more than $20 billion of incremental network spend over the life of the agreements.
Security, Agentic Commerce and Stablecoins
Mastercard continued to emphasize security services, including fraud, identity and cybersecurity. Miebach said the company added fraud and identity-related wins with Standard Bank, Monzo and Starling Bank. Its Digital Risk Protection cybersecurity product, launched only months ago, now serves nearly 800 enterprise customers, he said.
Management also focused on agentic commerce, in which artificial-intelligence agents can discover, select and purchase goods or services. Miebach said Mastercard sees the opportunity as a potential next phase of digital commerce, but acknowledged that transaction volumes remain small.
The company is seeking to support tokenized, authorized transactions through its Agent Pay offering, as well as merchant discoverability through Agent Connect. Miebach said Mastercard does not view virtual-card numbers used as an intermediary in agentic transactions as a long-term solution, arguing that fully tokenized transactions better preserve consumer choice, controls and rewards.
Mastercard cited partnerships with Shopify’s Shop Pay and OpenAI related to agentic commerce. Miebach said consumers will need confidence in the payment, the agent and the broader ecosystem before the model can scale.
The company also discussed its acquisition of BVNK, which closed between the second- and third-quarter calls. Mastercard’s first combined BVNK offering, the Global Money Platform, is designed to allow financial institutions and fintechs to offer accounts that hold, convert, send and receive fiat currencies and stablecoins. Mastercard Move is integrated into the platform, providing 17 billion endpoints for payouts into local bank accounts.
Nuvei and Marqeta are expected to be among the first customers to integrate the platform, according to Miebach.
Outlook Remains Unchanged
For full-year 2026, Mastercard maintained its expectation for currency-neutral net revenue growth at the high end of the low-double-digit range, excluding inorganic activity. The company expects a minimal impact from acquisitions and dispositions and an approximately 1-percentage-point foreign-exchange tailwind for the year.
Mastercard also expects full-year operating expense growth in the low-double-digit range on the same basis. For the fourth quarter, it forecasts revenue and operating expense growth at the high end of the low-double-digit range, excluding inorganic activity.
Hai said consumer and commercial spending remained healthy through the first three weeks of October. He noted that some cross-border trends, particularly lower-yielding intra-Europe volume, were affected by an EU customs fee, the timing of retail promotions and a tougher comparison against crypto purchases in the prior year. Still, he said underlying spending remained strong.
Mastercard expects fourth-quarter rebates and incentives as a percentage of gross assessments to be higher than in the third quarter. The company expects fourth-quarter other income and expense of about $115 million, excluding gains and losses on equity investments, and forecasts a non-GAAP tax rate of 20% to 21% for both the full year and fourth quarter.
About Mastercard (NYSE:MA)
Mastercard Incorporated NYSE: MA is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payments and provides technology that supports transactions conducted through credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payment products.
In addition to operating its payments network, Mastercard offers services in areas such as payment security, fraud prevention, authentication, cybersecurity, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital identity and open banking.
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