PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard on Wednesday reported continued growth in its debit program helped push second quarter profits ahead 33% to $608 million.
The cards giant said a 22% increase in debit transactions processed over the MasterCard system helped increase second quarter revenues by 22% to $1.7 billion.
The MasterCard report came a week after Visa said its continued push into debit helped fuel a 40% rise in quarterly profits.
The two companies are closely tied to credit unions because they process the vast majority of credit union card transactions, and because they are only two common stocks that credit unions may own.
MasterCard said the purchase volume of its debit cards rose by 19% in the second quarter and 22% worldwide. In comparison, credit card activity in the U.S. rose only 6% and by 14% worldwide.
For the first six months of the year MasterCard reported a 19% rise in revenues to $3.2 billion, and a 28% surge in profits to $1.2 billion.
