MA 2026 Q2

Mastercard raised its full-year 2026 net revenue outlook within the previously communicated low-double-digit range, now expecting the higher end versus prior expectations, citing stronger-than-expected first-half performance.

“we now expect to be higher within the range than our prior expectations”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

Q2 net revenue grew 12% and came in above management's expectations, with upside driven by a smaller-than-anticipated hit from Middle East instability, a Venezuela cross-border spend surge, and strong value-added services demand.

“Net revenues were above our expectations, up 12%”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

Management expects rebates and incentives as a percentage of payment network assessments to tick up slightly in Q3 versus Q2, reflecting timing of new deal signings within an active pipeline.

“rebates and incentives as a percentage of our payment network assessments will be slightly higher than it was in Q2”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

Cross-border travel volume from Middle East countries improved sequentially through Q2 and into July as conflict-related disruptions eased faster than anticipated, with better outbound spending trends and rising flight capacity.

“we did see better spending trends as it relates to outbound from the impacted GCC countries”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

Increased U.S. dollar availability in Venezuela drove a new surge in cross-border card-not-present spending there, a market where Mastercard is the debit leader, a shift from years of limited activity since the 2018 deconsolidation.

“there has become an increased availability of U.S. dollars in Venezuela”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

Excluding the Capital One debit migration, U.S. switched volume growth accelerated to 10% in Q2, up 2 points sequentially from Q1, driven by higher fuel spending and strong consumer/business activity.

“on a like-for-like basis, U.S. switched volume growth was 10% or 2 percentage points higher sequentially”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

APMEA payments volume growth accelerated to 11% from 9% in the prior quarter, driven by lapping last year's Middle East moderation and a boost from higher fuel prices.

“The step-up that you're seeing between Q1 and Q2 is driven by a couple of factors”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

European purchase volume growth has decelerated from the 16% pace seen in Q2 2024, as the tailwind from major past wins laps and management deliberately walks away from deals it deems uneconomical, such as Lloyds Credit.

“back in Q2 of 2024, we were growing at 16%”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

Cross-border card-not-present ex-travel growth declined sequentially in July versus June, primarily due to the timing shift of large retail promotional events and a differing mix of days rather than a demand slowdown.

Per Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

Mastercard will build and operate the UAE's next-generation domestic payments switch behind debit and Jaywan co-badged credit transactions for the Central Bank's Al Etihad Payments, adding transactions incremental to its global switch.

“Mastercard will provide switching services behind domestic debit and Jaywan Mastercard co-badged credit transactions in the UAE”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

Mastercard expanded its Alipay+ partnership into Mexico with fintech Clip to tokenize stored e-wallet balances across nearly 1 million merchants, targeting a market where over 70% of consumer payments are still cash-based.

“more than 70% of consumer payments are cash-based”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines, enabling AI agents to make low-value machine-to-machine payments at scale, positioning itself as the only network with this capability with over 30 industry partners at launch.

“Mastercard is the only network enabling machine-to-machine payments”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

Mastercard's Open USD stablecoin, developed with a 140-plus company consortium, is set to go live later this year, marking a new coin the company will enable across its network.

“Open USD is set to go live later this year”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

In its first three quarters, the newly launched Mastercard Threat Intelligence product identified over 7 million card testing transactions across 192 countries, preventing an estimated $172 million in fraud.

“identified more than 7 million card testing transactions across 192 countries”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

Crypto co-brand card volume has more than tripled over the past two years, with new expansions this quarter with Bitget and Kraken, reflecting accelerating traction in digital-asset-linked card programs.

“Our crypto co-brand volume has more than tripled over the last two years”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

Q3 operating expense growth guidance now includes a 0.5-point headwind from BVNK-related inorganic costs as the acquisition nears its expected close, an incremental factor versus prior quarters.

Per Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer

Mastercard expects to close its acquisition of BVNK in Q3 2026, adding enterprise-grade stablecoin payment orchestration and licensing capabilities to serve as an interoperable settlement layer across digital assets.

“we expect to close the BVNK acquisition this quarter”— Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer

Middle East conflict impacts on Mastercard's business were less severe than anticipated in Q2 and moderated through the quarter; management now expects impacts to persist at the reduced end-of-Q2 levels for the rest of the year.

“impacts from the instability in the Middle East moderated throughout the second quarter and were less severe than we anticipated”— Sachin Mehra, Chief Financial Officer