Mastercard third-quarter net revenue grows 14 percent to $9.8 billion

What happened

Mastercard reported net revenue of $9.807 billion for the third quarter of 2026 on Thursday 29 October, 14 percent more than the $8.602 billion of a year earlier. ^{[1, 2]}

Net income was $4.628 billion, up from $3.927 billion, an increase of 18 percent, the company said. Operating expenses were $3.945 billion, 11 percent higher, mainly from general and administrative costs. ^[2]

Why it matters

Services, not the card network, carried the quarter. Value-added services and solutions, such as security, authentication and marketing insights, brought in $4.058 billion, 19 percent more than a year earlier, against 11 percent growth for the payment network's $5.749 billion. Services made up about 41 percent of net revenue, by the desk's arithmetic on the filed figures. ^{[2, 3, 5]}

The volumes behind it

Gross dollar volume, the value of purchases and cash taken on Mastercard cards, grew 7 percent in local currencies to $3.0 trillion. Cross-border volume grew 11 percent and switched transactions, those processed on Mastercard's own network, 9 percent. ^[2]

Chief executive Michael Miebach said on the call that consumers continue to spend despite economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Finance chief Ling Hai said U.S. debit volume grew 1 percent, a figure that includes Capital One's debit migration. Spending through the first three weeks of October remained strong, Hai said. ^{[5, 4]}

The litigation charge

The quarter carried a $74 million litigation provision, mainly for settlements with merchants who opted out of the U.S. merchant class litigation. A year earlier the provision was $83 million, tied to the U.S. liability shift case. ^{[2, 3]}

What settles it next

A hearing on final approval of the revised settlement with the merchants' Rules Relief Class, which seeks changes to card rules, is scheduled for November 2026, the 10-Q said. The court granted preliminary approval in June. ^[3]

For the fourth quarter, Hai said Mastercard expects net revenue growth at the high end of the low double digits on a currency-neutral basis, excluding acquisitions, with about one point of drag from currencies. ^{[5, 4]}

Who it reaches

Mastercard (MA) is direct: the results are its own. Visa (V) is adjacent: the 10-Q names it as a defendant beside Mastercard in the merchant and ATM cases, and it reported its fiscal year on Tuesday 27 October. ^{[3, 6]}

Capital One (COF) is adjacent: Hai said U.S. switched volume improved in October as the comparison began to lap its debit migration. ^{[5, 4]}