Earnings Review: Operating and delivering with confidence

Today, Mastercard reported on our first quarter of 2026. It gave us an opportunity to share with our investors, partners, employees and others how Mastercard once again delivered on our strategy. That means working with our customers to give people, businesses and governments payments choices and value-added services and solutions that help them address real needs.

By the numbers, our quarter had a few milestones:

• Net revenue growth of 12% year-over-year on a currency-neutral basis
• Continued growth of the Gross Dollar Volume of payments that flow across our network worldwide — up 7% over Q1 2025 on a local currency basis
• Growth in Value Added Service and Solutions net revenues of 18% on a currency-neutral basis. VASS now represents approximately 40% of our overall net revenue

Those numbers are important. To me, they reinforce that we have the right solutions for the right moment. It also means that we continue to be a strong partner to the financial institutions, fintechs and others who are looking for innovative and reliable solutions.

Today’s report reinforces the importance of having a steady foundation during uncertain times. It’s a steady foundation that is so important to a critical element of every economy — small businesses.

In May, we’ll celebrate Small Business Month in the U.S. — and for us at Mastercard, small business is big business. These businesses generate nearly half of U.S. GDP and are responsible more than 60% of new jobs. To help them achieve these types of results doesn’t come by just providing any solution. They have specific needs. And that’s where we’re focused.

Not every business can invest in a finance organization or have a full executive suite to help guide on business plans or strategic decisions. That’s the thinking behind the Virtual C-Suite that Mastercard recently launched. Working with partners they already trust — like their financial institutions, accounting platforms and software providers — we’re rolling out a new set of capabilities that give smaller businesses fast access to things like cash flow forecasting and payment insights. The goal is to help them continuously monitor signals to flag emerging risks and opportunities early, giving leaders more time and more options to act. You’ll see this expand into other parts of their business.

Not every small business card is the same. Yes, each Mastercard comes with core features — unsurpassed acceptance, strong cybersecurity and fraud protections. As a critical part of local economies, small businesses also look to get a little more out of each transaction. We work with our partners to develop programs that give them the spend management tools, cost savings and meaningful rewards that provide more purchasing power at the end of the day. The Prime Business and Amazon Business credit cards with U.S. Bank are just one example introduced this quarter.

Our work to support small businesses is just one example of how teams at Mastercard — across the business and around the world — work hand in hand with our partners and customers to develop real solutions that address real needs. Understanding their business and embracing their needs allows us to think creatively and deliver both today and for the long term.