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    MA
    Earnings call· Jun 2026(Q2 FY26)

    Mastercard Q2 FY26 earnings call MA

    Jul 30, 2026 Source

    Executive summary

    Mastercard Q2 FY26 — Strong Performance Driven by VAS and Cross-Border Recovery

    Mastercard delivered a strong Q2 FY26, exceeding expectations with robust growth in net revenue and value-added services, supported by a healthy macro environment and strategic execution. The company is actively shaping the future of commerce through initiatives like Agentic Commerce and stablecoins, while navigating geopolitical uncertainties and leveraging its diversified business model.

    Highlights

    5

    • Net revenues were up 12% year-over-year on a non-GAAP currency-neutral basis.

    • Adjusted net income increased 16% year-over-year on a non-GAAP currency-neutral basis.

    • Value-added services net revenue grew 18% year-over-year on a non-GAAP currency-neutral basis.

    • Cross-border volume increased 12% globally for the quarter.

    • Switched transactions grew 9% year-over-year in Q2.

    Concerns

    2

    • Geopolitical uncertainty and its potential economic impacts continue to be monitored.

    • Impacts from the Middle East conflict, while moderating, are expected to remain at similar levels to late Q2 for the rest of the year.

    Guidance & targets

    6
    CategoryTargetConfidence
    Net revenue growth
    high end of low double digits range
    high materiality
    High
    Operating expense growth
    low double digits range
    medium materiality
    High
    Net revenue growth
    high end of low double digits range
    high materiality
    High
    Operating expense growth
    low double digits range
    medium materiality
    High
    Other income and expense
    $125 million
    medium materiality
    High
    Non-GAAP tax rate
    20% to 21%
    medium materiality
    High

    Operational metrics

    20
    EPS contribution from share repurchases
    $0.14
    Q2 FY26

    Contribution to EPS from share repurchases.

    Share repurchases
    $4.9 billion
    Q2 FY26

    Amount of stock repurchased during the quarter.

    Additional stock repurchased
    $700 million
    through July 27, 2026

    Amount of additional stock repurchased after the quarter end.

    Contactless penetration
    80%up 5 ppt since same period last year
    Q2 FY26

    Contactless penetration of all in-person switched purchase transactions.

    Token penetration
    over 40%
    Q2 FY26

    Token penetration of all switched transactions.

    Payment Network net revenue growth
    8%
    Q2 FY26

    Primarily driven by domestic and cross-border transaction and volume growth as well as pricing, including growth in rebates and incentives.

    Domestic assessments growth
    10%
    Q2 FY26

    Domestic assessments growth compared to 8% worldwide GDV growth.

    Cross-border assessments growth
    20%
    Q2 FY26

    Cross-border assessments growth compared to 12% cross-border volume growth.

    Transaction processing assessments growth
    12%
    Q2 FY26

    Transaction processing assessments growth compared to 9% switched transactions growth.

    Other network assessments
    $326 million
    Q2 FY26

    Total other network assessments for the quarter.

    Operating expenses growth
    10%
    Q2 FY26

    Growth in operating expenses, primarily driven by spending on strategic priorities like infrastructure hardening, geographic expansion, and product innovation.

    U.S. switched volume growth (ex-Capital One debit)
    10%2 ppt higher sequentially
    Q2 FY26

    U.S. switched volume growth excluding the impact of Capital One debit migration, which was largely complete in Q1. Driven by higher fuel spend and overall strong consumer and business spending.

    Cross-border card-not-present ex travel growth
    20%
    Q2 FY26

    Benefiting from increased card-not-present spend from Venezuela and timing of large retail promotional events.

    Fraud prevented by Threat Intelligence
    $172 million
    Q2 FY26

    Estimated fraud prevented by Mastercard Threat Intelligence in its first 3 quarters.

    Card testing transactions identified by Threat Intelligence
    7 million
    Q2 FY26

    Card testing transactions identified by Mastercard Threat Intelligence in its first 3 quarters.

    Value-added services net revenue network linked
    60%
    Q2 FY26

    Approximately 60% of value-added services and solutions net revenue is network linked.

    Crypto co-brand volume growth
    more than tripled
    over the last 2 Years

    Growth in crypto co-brand volume over the last two years.

    Net new Mastercard cards
    over 230 million
    12 months through Q2 FY26

    Net new Mastercard cards added to the market from new issuers, expanded relationships, and more payment transactions.

    Small business cards added
    6 million
    each quarter

    Average number of new Mastercard small business cards added to the market each quarter for the past several quarters.

    Switching penetration
    72%
    Q2 FY26

    Mastercard's switching penetration.

    Industry KPIs

    7
    MetricValueDetails
    Capital returns$4.9 billionUSD
    Cross border volume12%%
    Payments volume gdv8%%
    Client incentives rebatesin line with expectations
    Cards in force credentials5%%
    Value added services revenue18%%
    Switched processed transactions9%%

    Product announcements

    4
    ProductTypeDetails
    Mastercard Threat Intelligencelaunch
    Mastercard Merchant Trust Serviceslaunch
    Mastercard Agent Pay for machineslaunch
    Open USDmilestone

    Deals & partnerships

    20
    EvermoreExclusive partnership to roll out a new program for beneficiaries of food assistance programs in the United States.

    Exclusive partnership to provide a simple, more secure solution for beneficiaries of food assistance programs, aiming to digitize a significant portion of the $100 billion annual spend.

    Alipay PlusExpanding partnership to embed Mastercard credentials into their network of e-wallets.

    Expanding the partnership in Mexico with Clip, a leading fintech, to exclusively tokenize stored wallet balances, enabling users to transact across Mastercard's global acceptance network in a country where over 70% of consumer payments are cash based.

    Al Etihad PaymentsPartnering with the Central Bank of the UAE's subsidiary to build switching technology for the country's domestic payments infrastructure.

    Mastercard will provide switching services behind domestic debit in Jaywan Mastercard cobatch credit transactions in the UAE, and also provide value-add services to the domestic switch, including fraud prevention and cybersecurity.

    JPMorgan ChaseRenewed a key partnership on the Chase Freedom Flex portfolio in the U.S.

    Renewed a key partnership with JPMorgan Chase on the Chase Freedom Flex portfolio in the U.S.

    BanamexRenewed partnership with exclusivity for nearly all portfolios in Mexico.

    Renewed partnership in Mexico, where Mastercard has exclusivity for nearly all portfolios, representing almost 19 million cards.

    RevolutExpanded partnership to support their affluent debit proposition (Ultra) and commercial portfolio in new geographies.

    Now supporting Revolut's affluent debit proposition, Ultra, across Singapore and Australia, plus their commercial portfolio in New Zealand, building on their growing partnership in the U.S. and long-standing global relationship.

    Lion Federal Credit UnionsFlipped U.S. credit and debit portfolios to Mastercard.

    Flipped U.S. credit and debit portfolios to Mastercard.

    EurobankFlipped consumer and commercial portfolios in Greece to Mastercard.

    Flipped consumer and commercial portfolios in Greece to Mastercard.

    UberLaunched a new co-brand card in Mexico.

    Launched a new co-brand card with Uber in Mexico.

    HiltonLaunched a new co-brand card in Mexico.

    Launched a new co-brand card with Hilton in Mexico.

    Saudi National BankBecame the exclusive partner across their credit, debit, prepaid, and commercial portfolios.

    Following a recent flip in their travel co-brand portfolio, Mastercard is now the exclusive partner across their credit, debit, prepaid, and commercial portfolios.

    IntuitWin leading to incremental issuance of small business cards.

    Intuit in the United States is among the wins contributing to incremental small business card issuance.

    Truist BankChosen Mastercard's virtual card capabilities for their corporate clients' invoice-based payments needs.

    Truist Bank in the U.S. has chosen Mastercard's leading virtual card capabilities for their corporate clients' invoice-based payments needs.

    WeChat Pay Hong KongPartnering through Mastercard Move for global money movement.

    Partnering with WeChat Pay Hong Kong through Mastercard Move to support global money movement.

    PyrimidPartnering through Mastercard Move for global money movement in India.

    Partnering with Pyrimid in India through Mastercard Move to support global money movement.

    Riyadh AirExclusive partnership with Saudi Arabia's new national airline.

    Exclusive partnership with Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia's new national airline, for branded prepaid and credit cards, virtual card payments for travel agents, and streamlined supplier payments.

    WiproPartnered to further scale cybersecurity capabilities.

    Partnered with Wipro, a global information technology and consulting company, to further scale cybersecurity capabilities.

    Rogers CommunicationsLeverages Mastercard's identity capabilities.

    Rogers Communications in Canada leverages Mastercard's identity capabilities to verify transaction authenticity, customer onboarding, and more.

    Delivery HeroLeverages Mastercard's identity capabilities.

    Delivery Hero leverages Mastercard's identity capabilities to verify transaction authenticity, customer onboarding, and more.

    BVNKAcquisition to serve as the trusted interoperable layer, enabling customers to send, receive, store and convert assets.

    Mastercard expects to close the BVNK acquisition in Q3, leveraging BVNK's enterprise-grade payment orchestration capabilities, robust licensing, and connectivity to enable customers to manage digital assets.

    Risks & headwinds

    2
    Geopolitical uncertainty and potential economic impactsQ3 FY26, Full Year FY26

    Q3 net revenue expected to have a headwind of approximately 0.5 ppt from foreign exchange; Q3 operating expenses expected to have a 0.5 ppt headwind from inorganic activity; Full-year operating expenses expected to have a headwind of 0.5 to 1 ppt from foreign exchange.

    Mitigation: Mastercard's diversified business model across payment products, geographies, spend categories, and services, coupled with continued execution, helps navigate various operating environments.

    Middle East conflict impactsQ2 FY26, rest of FY26

    Impacts in Q2 were lower-than-anticipated; estimated to remain at similar levels to late Q2 for the rest of the year.

    Mitigation: The company's diversified business model and observed recovery in outbound travel from GCC countries help mitigate the impact.

    What to watch in Q3 FY26

    5

    BVNK acquisition closure

    Q3 FY26
    Currentexpected to close in Q3
    TargetClosed

    Why it matters

    This acquisition is key to Mastercard's strategy in digital assets, serving as an interoperable layer for stablecoins and other digital assets, and its closure will mark a significant step in this area.

    We expect to close the BVK acquisition this quarter.

    Q&A highlights

    6

    Do agentic commerce use cases require stablecoins, or can traditional Mastercard credentials fulfill them? Is there a unique value proposition for stablecoins in this context?

    Michael Miebach explained that consumer-oriented agentic commerce can leverage existing card networks, especially with Mastercard's unique protections like verifiable intent. However, machine-to-machine payments, characterized by low-ticket, high-velocity transactions, might require different underlying infrastructure, potentially involving stablecoins or other settlement types. He emphasized stablecoins' role in the financial ecosystem for B2B/P2P flows, but not P2M, and highlighted the BVNK acquisition's role as an interoperable layer for multiple coins/chains.

    “There is a connect with stablecoins. You could see that stablecoins play a role, but not the only thing. Stablecoins on the other hand, for us is a separate topic generally, but will play a role in the financial ecosystem of the future, which is why we have been investing.”

    asked by Ramsey El-Assal · answered by Michael Miebach

    2 min read6 chapters

    Detailed Narrative

    01

    Strategic Focus and Virtuous Cycle

    Mastercard's strong Q2 performance is attributed to a clear strategy focused on consumer payments, commercial flows, new payment flows, and value-added services, which collectively reinforce its virtuous cycle. The company is actively targeting significant secular opportunities to digitize payments, noting that only one-third of consumer transactions are currently carded, with even larger opportunities in commercial flows.

    02

    Network Expansion and Switching Penetration

    Mastercard continues to enhance its network architecture, achieving a 72% switching penetration. A notable partnership with the Central Bank of the UAE (Al Etihad Payments) involves building switching technology for the country's domestic payments infrastructure. Mastercard will serve as the prime international scheme for co-batched credit cards and provide incremental switching services for domestic debit and co-batch credit transactions, along with value-added services like fraud prevention.

    03

    Key Wins and Partnership Expansions

    In the first half of 2026, Mastercard secured several hundred flips and deal expansions, projected to generate trillions of dollars in incremental volume over the next decade. Key renewals include JPMorgan Chase for the Chase Freedom Flex portfolio in the U.S. and Banamex in Mexico, covering nearly 19 million cards. The company also expanded its partnership with Revolut and launched new co-branded cards with Uber and Hilton in Mexico.

    04

    Commercial Payments Momentum

    Commercial debit and credit volumes grew 12% in Q2, driven by banks and corporates adopting Mastercard's modernized capabilities. The company has consistently added approximately 6 million new small business cards to the market each quarter. Truist Bank selected Mastercard's virtual card capabilities for corporate invoice payments, and Mastercard Move is expanding global money movement partnerships with WeChat Pay Hong Kong and Pyrimid in India.

    05

    Value-Added Services & Cybersecurity Demand

    Mastercard's value-added services and solutions segment saw 18% net revenue growth, fueled by strong demand for security solutions amidst an expanding threat landscape. The company's Threat Intelligence, built on Recorded Future, identified over 7 million card testing transactions, preventing an estimated $172 million in fraud. Identity solutions are also gaining traction with clients like Rogers Communications and Delivery Hero for authentication and onboarding.

    06

    Agentic Commerce and Stablecoin Strategy

    Mastercard is at the forefront of Agentic Commerce, introducing Mastercard Agent Pay for machines to enable AI agents to purchase low-value digital services with on-chain permissioning and off-chain settlement. The company views stablecoins as having significant potential for B2B and P2P flows, noting a tripling of crypto co-brand volume over the last two years. The anticipated Q3 closure of the BVNK acquisition will further establish Mastercard as a trusted interoperable layer for digital assets.

    AI-generated summary of the company’s earnings call. Not investment advice.