Despite the slow economic recovery over the past few years, credit card companies are receiving welcome news: both Visa and Mastercard had an increase in revenue since last year, due to an increase in card users.
An article in American Banker detailed the credit card companies’ successes. Visa’s overall income in the second quarter of this year was 17 percent higher than this time last year, as reported in a news release this week. Shares increased by 20 percent in the same time period for the company.
“Visa’s strong financial and operational performance reflects continued momentum across our core business during the fiscal second quarter,” CEO Charlie Scharf said in the release.
Mastercard also saw income improvements this year, with a year-over-year increase of 12 percent in net income in the second quarter of this year. Even with the regulations from the Credit CARD Act and the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Bill, both companies saw an increase in credit card volume, American Banker said.
Other credit card companies beyond Mastercard and Visa that are seeing improvements in their customer base, along with a declining unemployment rate and improving economic growth will likely help this pattern continue. At the same time, with such an unstable market, companies may also consider investing in risk management software to help provide these products to qualified borrowers. With application processing software and credit management tools, credit card companies can expand their customer base while staying solvent in the recovery market.
