Earnings Review: Delivering today, setting tomorrow’s foundation

Each quarter, we report on our performance, sharing a snapshot on how Mastercard is performing against the strategy and goals we have put in place. What’s important to us is that these reports are not seen as four independent one-time events during a given year. Instead, it’s critical to look at them as building blocks on our journey toward executing our strategy.

The continual efforts of our teams are focused on delivering that short-term success with the long-term opportunity always on our minds. This is how we are looking at our business and the competitive environment in which we operate – setting our vision, controlling the factors that we can and deepening the relationships we have with customers, partners and those who use our products and services.

Our priorities – expanding in payments, extending our services and embracing new networks – are the guideposts that allow us to create consistency and deliver impact.

In today’s conference call, we shared how we are executing on these priorities in order to deliver strong revenue and earnings growth, as well as continued positive momentum across our underlying operating metrics. Consumer spending remains strong as people and businesses navigate a fluid economic environment.

To put this in perspective, I’d note a few examples:


Strength in cross border

Consumer spending remains healthy, including in cross-border where countries continue to relax restrictions on travel. This led to cross-border travel in the quarter reaching 118 percent of 2019 levels. Some of the customer programs mentioned during our call further position us to capitalize on this trend.

Expanding in payments

There continues to be a robust runway across the many electronic payment choices we support. We’re delivering the solutions – card, account-to-account, installments, push payments and blockchain – that provide businesses and consumers with the purchasing power and peace of mind that they’re looking for every time they pay.

Extending our services

Our services capabilities are a true differentiator for Mastercard and our customers. They’re helping to enhance the value of payment programs through our consulting services, meeting the needs for greater insights beyond payments and providing the foundation for new networks efforts, including support for our recently announced biometric checkout platform.

The second half of the year is a book that is yet to be written. We believe we have good momentum, strong business fundamentals and the right mix of products and services – fueled by the best technology and a deep, talented team – to maximize our opportunities and deliver on our strategy.