Continued transaction-processing growth and an improved capability to process debit card transactions in the United States helped to boost MasterCard Worldwide’s first quarter earnings.
Net revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $1.8 billion, up 20% from $1.5 billion a year earlier, the card brand network announced May 2. Net income was $682 million, up 21% from $562 million.
The company reported an 16.5% increase in gross dollar volume worldwide on all card transactions on local currency, to $849 billion from $729 billion. Transaction volume worldwide increased 16.7% to 9.1 billion from 7.8 billion.
In the U.S., gross dollar volume on all card transactions rose 14.1%, to $283 billion from $248 billion, while transaction volume increased 16.7% to 4.2 billion from 3.6 billion.
“We had a good start to the year with solid first-quarter earnings driven by an increase in processed transactions, the highest quarterly growth rate since our” initial public offering, Ajay Banga, MasterCard chairman and CEO, said in a press release.
In addition, MasterCard experienced positive volume growth in all regions, mostly because consumers continued to adopt electronic payments, Banga added.
In the U.S., MasterCard “significantly improved our position in debit and now have the capability to process about half of all U.S. debit cards,” Banga said.
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