SAN FRANCISCO – Visa Inc., the world’s largest payments system, posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings yesterday as card network increased prices, slashed expenses and consumers used debit cards more.
Net income rose 70% to $536 million, or 71 cents per diluted class A share, for the second quarter ended March 31, compared with a profit of $314 million, or 39 cents per diluted share, a year earlier.
Net operating revenue rose 13% to $1.6 billion, while total processed transactions -- which represent transactions processed by VisaNet -- increased 6% to 9.4 billion.
Visa is partially insulated from the credit crisis because it processes transactions rather than lends funds. However, the company has seen a slowdown in the growth of revenue and transaction volumes as battered consumers used their credit cards less.
