Benzinga on $V (Oct 28, 2026)

Welcome to Visa's Q4 and full fiscal year 2026 earnings conference call. Thank you. Good evening everyone, and welcome to Visa's earnings call for the fourth fiscal quarter and the full year 2026.

Joining us today are Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa, and Chris Suh, Chief Financial Officer of Visa.

This call is being streamed online to the Investor Relations section of our website investor.visa.com. The call replay will be archived on our website for 30 days. A slide set containing key financial and statistical data has been published on our investor relations website .

Let me also remind you that this presentation contains forward-looking statements. This data is not a guarantee of future performance, and our results, outputs, or timing may vary materially as a result of many factors.

Additional information about these factors is available in our most recent annual report ( Form 10-K) and any subsequent reports (Forms 10-Q and 8-K), which you can find on the SEC website and in the Investor Relations section of our website.

Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Our comments today regarding our financial results will reflect revenues on a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis, and all other results on a nominal basis not subject to these principles unless otherwise stated.

The relevant Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and matching measures are available in today’s earnings release and related materials are available on our Investor Relations website.

2026 was a landmark year for Visa. We ended the year with net revenues for the fourth quarter of $12.1 billion, a 13% year-over-year increase. This resulted in record full-year net revenues of $46 billion, a 15 % increase, the strongest net revenue growth in more than 15 years, excluding the post- pandemic recovery and acquisitions .

Corporate Services (CMS) revenue grew by 19% and Value Added Services (VAS) revenue by 30%, both in constant dollars, and their combined revenues represent more than 40% of our total net revenue.

Our engines this year were strong. Payments volume increased by 9% year-on-year in constant dollar terms. Business payments volumes grew 12% this year in constant dollars, a faster pace than consumer payments and the fastest annual growth rate in 8 years, excluding the post-pandemic recovery.

Total cross-border volume excluding within Europe rose 12% year-on-year, with travel growing 11% and e-commerce 15%, all in constant dollars. We processed 281 billion transactions , a 9% year-on-year increase , with a processing penetration rate of approximately 80% globally.

Visa Direct transactions have exceeded 15 billion, representing approximately $1.5 trillion in payment volume.

While these figures reflect our strengths, we also proved in 2026 that we are always keeping pace with changes in trade thanks to technology. We anticipate what's coming, and enable its growth as the world's leading company in expanding the reach of payments.

The foundation of all this is trust. Visa provides confidence through our scale of business, our network , our infrastructure, and our products, all of which are delivered through the Visa as a Service suite.

Starting with size, we have a wide range in issuing and accepting cards. In 2026, our number of credits reached 5.2 billion, a 6% year-on-year increase, with Latin America surpassing the one billion credit mark.

We have continued to grow our credentials globally in several ways. We signed new co-branding agreements and expanded our existing relationships with prominent brands around the world.

In the hotel sector, this included Marriott in Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific , Latin America and North America. In the aviation sector, this included Air India in Asia Pacific, Copa Airlines in Latin America, and Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines in Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

We have also launched debit card wallets for Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines in the United States, in addition to our existing credit wallets with these brands. In the United States , we added the new Samsung Galaxy Card and maintained our leading position with seven of the top 10 joint US brands.

In the area of wealthy customers, we recently launched our new Visa Infinite card series , and signed agreements with more than 70 issuers in more than 40 countries in the fourth quarter alone, with more than 15 issuers in Latin America, including Santander Bank in Mexico as part of an expanded relationship with Visa.

Our Flex credits have tripled since last year , with continued strength from existing players as well as growth from new partners such as Cash App and Shine. We will also soon launch the world’s first Visa Flex credit linked to stablecoins with the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) in Europe.

Visa Pay, which connects wallets to any merchant that accepts Visa cards worldwide, has nearly tripled its presence since last year, reaching 11 countries. In the commercial sector, we have more than 15 new clients in the fleet sector this year across our five regions.

We recently renewed our global agreement with WEX to enable business-to-business (B2B) travel solutions for their corporate clients. We have also expanded our relationship from Europe to the United States with Adyen for their clients in the travel sector.

Through Visa's multinational program , Newline by Fifth Third will enable US financial technology companies to offer corporate Visa cards in 46 countries. Alongside all this growth in credits, we continue to promote the adoption of digital tokens.

Today, more than 50% of all available credentials are encrypted, double what it was five years ago. In 2026, we processed an encrypted transaction in 200 countries and territories for the first time.

Now, more than 60% of all e-commerce transactions are coded. In terms of acceptance, we have over 200 million merchant sites, driven by an increase of over 40% in Brazil, over 60% in Mexico , and over 15% in India in seller sites on an annual basis.

When we integrate digital wallets, Visa credentials can be used at more than 200 million additional merchant sites . So, in total, Visa credentials can be used at more than 400 million merchant sites .

With this growing acceptance, Visa enables buyers and sellers to use secure payment methods , such as contactless payment, reaching nearly 85% of direct payment transactions globally.

With the last 100 major vendors enabling touch payment technology in 2026, we have reached a 75% penetration rate in the United States, putting us on track for the global total.

Mobile payment technology has boosted acceptance for small businesses, with more than 25 million active mobile devices accepting Visa in more than 100 markets, surpassing one billion transactions in 2026, with mobile payment vendors representing 30% of new entrants to our system this year.

As for micro-sellers in emerging markets, we have Visa Accept, which has grown to 15 markets in just one year. Through all these efforts, we are expanding our reach to support all types of payments, from individuals to businesses, from businesses to businesses , from individuals to individuals , from businesses to individuals, from governments to individuals, and more.

In fact, we have the largest money transfer platform on the planet through Visa Direct, measured by the number of transactions, volumes, and accounts, with more than 18 billion touchpoints across cards, accounts, and wallets, up from 12 billion in 2025.

Customers appreciate the trust this provides , and we have more than 40 customers who have each used more than five different Visa Direct use cases this year. A recent example of a client adding new use cases is Navy Federal, with whom we have already partnered on cross-border money transfers.

As part of a broader overhaul across consumer and merchant portfolios of Value Added Services (VAS), including DPS, they are working to adapt Visa Direct to support a number of new domestic money transfer use cases over time.

In addition, Wells Fargo has activated Visa Direct for cross- border payroll, credit accounts, and exchange payments. Thanks to our credentials, acceptance, and reach, Visa has worked and will continue to bring the large scale of the ecosystem.

You can see this embodied in the more than 200 countries and territories where we operate . For example, in the Asia-Pacific region during 2026, we renewed and expanded our partnerships with three of the top four Australian banks, three of the top four Indian banks , and two of the top four Chinese banks, and initiated new relationships with Japanese clients such as PayPay and Travel Wallet Japan.

Visa also provides confidence through our network and infrastructure. Over the past five years, we have invested $15 billion in the security and resilience of our network, all to deliver the high reliability and continuous operational capability you expect from Visa.

This year, we tested and strengthened our defenses with the "Visa Vulnerability Agent Harness" tool, which we then released as open source to the world. We also made progress this year in building the next generation of "Visa Net" to enable the future of commerce through a standardized, distributed cloud microservices architecture that uses open languages ​​and technologies , enabling easier scaling and configuration and faster feature deployment.

Today, this system supports live, production-stage authorization across markets in Latin America, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and supports additional workloads for processing payments on a global scale.

Mainland China will be an important area for future development, as Visa has received approval from the People’s Bank of China for our application to begin preparations. This important milestone now marks the beginning of our official preparations for eventual local processing on the Visa network.

Another key aspect of our network and infrastructure is enabling new capabilities, including " blockchain". In 2026, our conviction in the opportunities and benefits of expanding our network to include "blockchain" increased.

Our vision is simple. A single network that combines fiat currencies, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits, with interoperability and utility across our infrastructure, providing the same ease and confidence that customers expect from Visa.

This requires key capabilities across the entire blockchain technology suite , in which we have made significant progress this year. Highlights of this quarter for the blockchain layer include our invitation to join Circle's ERC Founder Validators Group, as well as our roles as a validator at Tempo and a super validator at Canton.

As for the issuance layer, " OpenUSD" was launched on September 30, with the total circulating supply exceeding $800 million as of October 15. At the coordination layer, Visa Direct's stablecoin pre-funding and cross- border money transfer service has moved from the pilot phase to commercial production, and we have our first actual partner, a US-based payments infrastructure provider.

At the application layer, Visa's stablecoin platform is now available in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, with additional countries to follow , and the waiting list includes more than 300 partners.

The level of engagement we are seeing with our more established stablecoin offerings is significant. In stablecoin settlement, the operating rate exceeded $25 billion of annual volume, a 10-fold increase year-on-year.

We now support 10 blockchains, more than double what we had last year, and we operate in all five regions. In the consulting field, with more than 60 unique engagements, stablecoin consulting was the fastest growing within Visa Consulting & Analytics services this year , with nearly half of these projects executed in the fourth quarter alone.

These consultancies remain among our clients’ top three areas of focus, along with artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. We now have more than 225 stablecoin-linked card programs, up over 70% year-on-year, with transaction volume growing by more than 150% across 5 million cards in more than 50 countries, with issuers including cryptocurrency platforms, digital banks, wallets, and money transfer companies.

This is widespread trust. The trust that Visa’s network and infrastructure represents is further enhanced by the products we offer on top of it.

Last quarter I talked about the fundamental changes in the way we build and launch products, which have been made possible by the use of our Agentech suite of tools. For example, the Visa platform to enable stablecoins for the (OUSD) currency was designed, built and launched in 7 weeks with the participation of 12 people.

This would have taken much longer and required a larger number of employees had it not been for the use of the Agentech suite of tools . Today, more than 60% of our global product development and engineering teams have adopted this new way of working, with our goal of reaching 100% this year.

One of Visa's key areas of innovation is enabling agent-based commerce ( Agentech). It is clear that in the field of "Agentech", trust is the biggest obstacle to expansion. We believe that the best way to break through this barrier is with a simple but powerful idea.

Every time someone pays or receives money, it is done using Visa credentials. While we look at the limited number of transactions that agents carry out today, we find that Visa credentials are used by consumers, businesses, and agents.

We have nearly 50 AI partners currently in active operation, including recently Shopify's Shop Pay, and this number is expected to double in the coming months. We are also collaborating with Anthropic to bring their business schemes to our merchant network, combining the intelligence of Claude with the trust, security and global reach of Visa.

One area we have identified for rapid adoption of agent-based commerce is business-to-business (B2B), and we have seen many partners launch and expand their offerings. Ramp's " Pay Bills Through Agents" use case is now publicly available, and as Ramp companies use Visa Intelligent Commerce solutions to automate bill payments, the volume of payments is growing significantly.

Aero wallets is testing and integrating Visa Intelligent Commerce-backed credentials into its native Aerie wallet. Bill's payment agent is testing Visa Intelligent Commerce for invoice payments, and Billtrust's supplier gateway will recognize the agent and accept the payment.

Our "Visa Intelligent Commerce" solution is what makes all of this possible. It provides trust to the user through credentials , proxy tokens, and transaction IDs, trust to the proxy via the Trusted Proxy Protocol and Proxy Directory, and trust to the transaction itself.

Once the user and agent identity has been verified, we need to ensure that the purchase instructions are clear by monitoring the documented consumer intent. And of course, as with any of these transactions, our rules outline the roles, responsibilities, and processes in case anything goes wrong.

It is clear that proxy trading has become a tangible reality , and Visa's role is clearly to provide trust.

Another important area for product development was in our value- added services. In fiscal year 2026, our value- added services business revenues grew by 30% in constant dollars to $14 billion, nearly double our revenues from these services in 2023 .

Our portfolios in the areas of issuance, acceptance, risk and security have achieved collective growth exceeding 20% ​​in constant dollars this year, a growth rate that we believe is sustainable in 2027 for two main reasons.

The primary drivers of revenue are customer demand. I will delve deeper into each of them. Firstly, transactions, cards, and accounts have been the engine of the vast majority of our revenue in value-added services, at over 80% over the past five years, and this will continue as our customers grow, we expand into new customers, develop new products , and are able to price those products based on their value.

For example, Pismo signed contracts with clients in Sweden, Belgium and Guatemala this quarter , bringing the total for the year to 28 countries, which is almost double the number from last year.

Now we move on to the demand side. Cybersecurity-related products are a top priority for our customers. We offer many integrated cyber solutions , including several that were launched this year, and we will continue to invest more over time.

The associated revenues extend across value- added service portfolios and represent a significant portion of the total revenues of these services.

We offer these cyber solutions in four areas, all of which bring confidence to the ecosystem. First, helping our clients gather threat information and detect cyber problems early.

Secondly, protecting our customers' security perimeter through identity, access, and behavioral trust solutions. Third, ensuring the security of every transaction within and outside the Visa network using transaction intelligence solutions.

Fourth, in the event of an active threat, enabling our customers to maintain service resilience and recover as quickly as possible.

In the area of threat intelligence, Visa's Threat Intelligence Platform combines cybersecurity, fraud, brand , identity, and financial crime insights through high- resolution feeds.

We link these indicators to potential fraud outcomes to help our clients defend against potential attackers.

We have also recently invested in Overwatch Data, a company specializing in financial threat intelligence, whose solutions we will soon be offering to our customers worldwide.

In the area of identity access and behavioral trust, our authentication and tokenization platforms protect consumer credentials, payment transactions, and sensitive data for merchants and acquirers.

We are excited about the anticipated acquisition of BioCatch, the leading provider of behavior-based multi-signal fraud intelligence . With over 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users protected worldwide and serving over 100 of the world’s largest banks , we see an opportunity and a need to move upstream to protect accounts where most fraud occurs today.

In the area of ​​transaction intelligence, we are enhancing our extensive transaction risk services, such as "Visa Advanced Authorization" and "Visa Decision Manager", using our mega transaction model .

Our Feature-space solution provides customers with a flexible platform to integrate a wide range of risk signals to enrich risk decisions throughout the consumer journey.

In the area of recovery flexibility, smarter alternative processing enables customers to offer seamless and flexible transaction authorization services. The newly launched "Visa Intelligent Authorization" system empowers acquirers through advanced processing, payment coordination, risk settings, and real-time data across multiple local and global payment methods.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive. With all this in mind, we offer Visa's cybersecurity consulting practice to help clients review, design, and select the best solutions for them.

Our consulting and other capabilities have seen significant revenue growth this year with successful activations around the Olympic Games and FIFA, as well as around other sponsorships in sports and music and our other high-value consulting engagements.

This core set of assets and capabilities in this portfolio will drive strong revenue growth in the future. Across all our value- added services, we have the people, technology, data, brand assets, and access that our customers are looking for .

This is what drove the 30% growth in value-added services revenue in constant dollars in 2026, and why we expect strong value-added services growth of 20-25% in 2027.

2026 was a landmark year for payments, and Visa reinforced its position in the ecosystem as a global leader in expanding the reach of payments. We have proven our ability to significantly accelerate product development.

With the true birth of tokenized proxy commerce transactions powered by Visa, with blockchain infrastructure and platforms designed for payments, and with the increased use of artificial intelligence in our business to deliver more than 350 product versions, up 25% year-over-year .

We reached new customers through Tap to Phone and Pismo technologies, our corporate travel and fleet offerings , new solutions for wealthy customers, and cybersecurity and risk capabilities such as Feature Space and A2A Protect .

With the completion of our first transaction in Syria in over a decade, we have delivered secure and reliable payments, at a rate of nearly 9,000 transactions per second in more than 200 countries and territories every day, a 9% year-on-year increase .

We have provided the world with the best of Visa technology for free through a Visa vulnerability proxy for you to take advantage of. All of this was made possible thanks to what Visa and our brand represent .

Every day, across more than 200 countries and territories , more than 18 billion endpoints, and more than 400 million vendor and wallet locations, and between consumers, businesses, governments and agents, trust is what makes all of this possible.

We have seen a significant acceleration in growth this year, and as I look ahead to 2027, one thing is clear: trust is Visa’s next growth driver. Trust is the fuel for everything we do at Visa every day, and trust will be the fuel for our future.

Thank you, Ryan, and good evening to you all. We capped off our strong fiscal year 2026 with another impressive quarter for Visa. Net revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter rose 13 % year over year in nominal and constant dollars, in line with our expectations, reflecting broad-based strength across all our major drivers.

In constant dollar terms, the volume of global payments rose by 9% year-on-year. The volume of cross-border transactions, excluding those within Europe, increased by 14%. The total number of transactions processed grew by 10%.

Earnings per share rose 17% year-over-year in nominal and constant dollars, better than expected, primarily due to a lower- than- expected tax rate. Payments in the United States grew by 10% year-over-year , which is generally consistent with the third quarter, as we saw many of the factors from the third quarter continue to play a role, including fuel costs, retail trade, strong Visa Direct growth, and FIFA tournament-related spending.

From the FIFA World Cup Round of 32 matches on July 1 through to the final on July 19, we continued to see host cities in the United States as well as destination cities benefit from the influx of FIFA fans, with the total volume of card payments present in the United States growing well above pre- and post- tournament levels.

During this quarter, growth in discretionary and non- discretionary spending in the United States remained strong. In the fourth quarter, credit in the United States grew by 11% year-over-year, and debit cards grew by 9%.

Growth across consumer spending segments remained relatively consistent with previous quarters, with the highest spending segment continuing to grow at the fastest pace. We have not seen any signs of weakness in the low-spending consumer segment in our transaction volumes.

The total volume of international payments rose 9% year-on-year in constant dollar terms in the fourth quarter, which is broadly consistent with the growth we have seen throughout the year.

Total cross-border transaction volume in the fourth quarter rose 14% year-on-year, more than two percentage points higher than the third quarter, primarily due to travel.

Cross- border travel-related transaction volumes rose by 13%, an acceleration of three points from the third quarter, driven mainly by improved inbound and outbound travel in the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Overall growth in cross-border transactions into the United States remained high in July following strong growth in June, partly reflecting demand surrounding the FIFA World Cup.

Focusing on cross- border card spending in US host cities , it increased by more than 20% year-over-year from July 1 to July 19, with large increases driven by Argentina and Colombia fans.

Cross-border e-commerce volume rose by 17%, more than one percentage point above the third quarter, driven mainly by the retail sector, including spending on artificial intelligence platforms .

Service revenue grew 14% year-over-year , outpacing the 10% growth in constant dollar payment volume in the third quarter, mainly due to pricing .

Data processing revenue grew by 16%, exceeding the 10% growth in processed transactions , mainly due to pricing, a higher cross-border transaction mix, and value-added services.

International transaction revenues rose by 8%, less than the 14% increase in cross-border transaction volume growth in constant dollar terms excluding Europe, due to lower volatility levels compared to last year and the mix.

Other revenues grew by 40%, driven mainly by growth in consulting and other value-added services, particularly marketing services revenues plus pricing. Customer incentives grew by 21%, an increase of nearly three points over the third quarter, mainly due to new deals signed in the third quarter and early fourth quarter.

Consumer payments revenue was based on strong growth in payment volume, cross-border transaction volume, and processed transactions. Revenue from commercial payment and money transfer solutions grew 16% year-over-year in constant dollar terms, with strong growth in key drivers.

Commercial payments volume grew 13% in constant dollar terms, in line with the third quarter and at a faster pace than Visa's overall payments volume growth . Visa's overall payments volume growth .

Visa Direct transactions grew 23% year-over-year, up nearly two percentage points from the third quarter, mainly due to strength in the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Value-added services revenue grew by 31% year-on-year in constant dollars, reaching $4 billion, driven by three factors. First, the core business drivers , which included strength in marketing service engagements related to the World Cup.

Secondly, pricing, and thirdly, the acquisition of Prismia.

Operating expenses grew by 12% in line with our expectations, driven mainly by marketing and personnel expenses. Non- operating expenses amounted to $57 million . It is better than expected, mainly due to the high average cash balances.

Our tax rate for this quarter was 18.4%. It is lower than we expected due to tax benefits related to rights claims resulting from recent legal settlements . Earnings per share reached $3.48, a 17% increase year-over-year.

This is a better-than-expected result with little impact from exchange rates.

For our non-GAAP results , Prisma New Bay added about one point to net revenue growth, about two points to operating expense growth , and about half a point to earnings per share growth .

In the fourth quarter, we repurchased $4 billion worth of shares and distributed $1.3 billion in cash dividends to our shareholders. We also funded the litigation escrow account with $405 million, which is equivalent in effect to a share buyback.

At the end of September, we had $24.4 billion remaining within our share buyback mandate .

Looking ahead to the full year 2026, net revenue grew by 15% to $46 billion , and earnings per share grew by 16% to $13.27. CMS's revenue growth for the full year 2026 was 19%, and its value-added services revenue growth was 30%, based on a constant dollar exchange rate .

This strong growth pillar will continue into 2027. Quick note, when I refer to 2026 and 2027, I am referring to our fiscal years. Remember that our guidance is based on a rate-reported basis, defined as non- GAAP results in constant dollars excluding the effect of the acquisition.

You can review these disclosures in our earnings presentation for more details. We are still working on regulatory approvals for "BioBatch" and expect to complete them no later than the end of the second quarter of the fiscal year, at which time we will provide the expected financial impact .

Now, let's look at our basic assumptions for net revenue growth. As we always say, we are not economic forecasters. Therefore, we assume that the macroeconomic environment will generally remain the same as today.

And that consumer spending will remain resilient. The conflict in the Middle East is bringing near-term uncertainty, particularly for cross-border travel spending in the Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Our assumption is that those volumes generally remain related to their levels in the fourth quarter. This means that the main business drivers will be strong and will improve modestly from 2026 as we get past the impact of last year’s Middle East conflict.

Regarding pricing, we expect the benefits of the new pricing for 2027 to be similar in magnitude and timing to those of 2026, with the majority coming into effect in the second half, and to a greater extent than in 2026 .

As for volatility, we expect volatility throughout the year to be generally consistent with the fourth quarter of 2026, which means pressure for the whole year. The first quarter is expected to see a slight benefit, while the second quarter is expected to see the greatest pressure, followed by the third quarter.

Regarding incentives, 2027 will be an important year to secure our long-term relationships with customers to drive long-term success. We expect to renew approximately 25% of our payment volume, including renewals with several large clients.

This means an increase in the annual growth rate compared to 2026.

Combining all of this with the strength in our growth pillars of consumer, enterprise solutions, and value-added services, we expect full-year adjusted net revenue growth to be in the low double digits.

With the second quarter being the lowest point of growth as a result of comparison with the extremely strong performance last year.

Now we move on to expenses. As Ryan explained, Visa provides confidence through our business scale, our network and infrastructure, and our products. All of these are offered through the Visa as a Service package that we provide.

In 2027, we will continue to invest in each of these areas with a focus on driving long-term sustainable growth .

Let me share some examples with you. Regarding scope, we will continue to invest to increase credentials, drive the adoption of digital tokens, broaden acceptance, increase our reach in the movement of funds, and enhance our offerings to wealthy and cross-border customers , while deepening our presence in key markets around the world.

Regarding the network and infrastructure, we will continue to invest to enhance the security and resilience of the VisaNet network, and develop our on-chain infrastructure across fiat currencies, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits.

As for our products, we will continue to invest to promote proxy trade, expand our offerings to small and medium enterprises, and accelerate product development through value-added services.

By driving operational efficiency in our business , we are able to make these important investments and maintain industry- leading operating margins . For 2027, we currently expect adjusted operating expenses to grow at a low double- digit rate, slightly less than net revenue growth.

When we consider the pace of spending, we expect adjusted operating expense growth to be relatively consistent each quarter, with a moderation in the fourth quarter coinciding with the end of FIFA-related spending.

We now turn to non- operating expenses, which are expected to range between $250 million and $300 million, primarily due to lower cash balances. Our tax rate is expected to be around 19 %.

This is consistent with our long-term tax rate range of 19-20%, which is higher than in 2026 and is mainly due to the absence of "claim rights" benefits.

Regarding capital returns, the Board of Directors announced a 16% increase in quarterly dividend payouts. We intend to return excess free cash flow to shareholders through share buybacks.

All of this leads to our adjusted earnings per share growing in the low double digits to low twenties range.

Moving on to the first quarter. But first, a comment on the monthly engines. You may recall that we began providing quarterly engine data during the pandemic to provide greater visibility into trends during a period of significant volatility.

Given that the environment has largely returned to normal for some time now, we believe that quarterly trends provide a more meaningful view of the underlying performance of our business.

Accordingly, we will continue to present monthly engine data in our earnings presentation during the first fiscal quarter, after which we will return to quarterly reporting. Of course, we will continue to highlight important trends during the quarter in a manner consistent with the Fair Disclosure Regulation (Reg FD) when we deem it prudent to do so.

Now, let's take a look at the engines through October 21 with volume growth in constant dollars. US payment volume rose by 10%, with credit increasing by 11% and debit by 9% year-over-year.

For cross-border transactions in constant dollar terms excluding transactions within Europe, total volume grew by 15% year-on-year, with e-commerce increasing by 17% and travel by 13%.

Transactions processed grew by 10% year-on-year.

We now turn to the financial forecasts for the first quarter, which are again on an adjusted basis. We expect net revenue growth in the first quarter to be low double digits, slightly less than one percentage point below the adjusted net revenue growth for the fourth quarter, mainly due to the absence of revenue related to "Viva" and pricing.

We also expect first-quarter operating expense growth to be low double digits, slightly lower than net revenue growth. Non- operating expenses are expected to be around $60 million.

The tax rate in the first quarter is expected to range between 18.5% and 19%. As a result, we expect first-quarter earnings per share growth to be in the lower end of the mid- tens range.

As always, if the environment changes and events occur that affect our business, we will remain flexible and prudent in balancing short-term and long- term considerations. As Ryan said earlier, trust has always been at the heart of Visa.

Trust will be the key to our future growth. As we look ahead to 2027, we remain focused on driving overall performance, executing with discipline, and investing in our strategic priorities to seize the great opportunities ahead.

Thank you. I think one of the big themes this quarter was the launch of initiatives like Muse and Instinct, and it seems that the pace of agency experiment adoption has accelerated.

I'm just curious, Ryan, about what you see regarding the adoption of these technologies by merchants and consumers. When do you expect this to actually impact your results with regard to these token initiatives, etc.? Thanks.

I agree with you, Sanjay, that this quarter has been a turning point for users to be able to experience the things we've been talking about in calls like this and in other forums for a while, where you can actually get an agent to act on your behalf to carry out not just shopping , but real transactions, with or without human intervention.

I think my experiences with "Muse" and " Instinct" are good examples of that. I think we are still in a very early stage. If you just look at the reported user numbers for "Muse", you'll realize that we're still in a very early stage in terms of the number of consumers doing this.

And certainly, in the overall view of our business as a whole, this amount remains very small. However, we remain very enthusiastic and firmly convinced of the agent-based commerce and the promises it makes, not only to buyers and sellers, but also to Visa.

Secondly, we remain highly confident that Visa and our accreditations will play a very important role in enabling these experiences. We are pleased that during this quarter, people who do not study the industry in depth, like you, Sanjeev, and others on this call, are beginning to see the first use cases and examples of how powerful this can be for both buyers and sellers .

So, we continue to invest, we remain committed to our conviction, and we will continue to work hard across the ecosystem to enable these experiences, and over time, we are optimistic about the impact this will have.

Thank you very much. I wanted to ask a follow-up question regarding how you invest in agent-based trading and all the possibilities of new money movement. As these flows continue to evolve , what is the size of the opportunity you expect to be additional for Visa compared to the likelihood of current card volumes migrating?

As we look ahead to 2027, do we expect any of this to start having a tangible impact on growth or on overall profits and losses? Thanks.

I think, you know, I'll go back to the point where I was talking to Sanjeev. It is still in its very early stages . Therefore, we are convinced that the opportunity is great, and we are convinced that there are real additional opportunities.

But as we think about the next four seasons, you know, in 2027, it all remains very small in the grand scheme of our enormous business. There are two further observations regarding the areas where we see additional opportunities .

First, as you know, I mentioned some of the work we've done with Visa Direct and things like that, so these are great additional opportunities. Secondly, when you think about machine-to-machine payments , and the command-line interface ( CLI) as a business interface, there are many additional opportunities there.

More broadly, in the overall scheme of things with generative technology-driven commerce, our agents are finding more buying opportunities for us, and our agents are making more purchases in more vendor locations because they are improving performance based on value, speed, delivery, and everything that matters to the user.

Those are the available opportunities. So, I think we are still very excited and convinced of the opportunities available , but I think we all need to realize that the development of all this is still in its early stages.

Hello, have a good day. I just wanted to ask about token pricing . It is a revenue-building project with a very high profit margin in fiscal year 2027. Guidance points to low double-digit revenue growth and low double- digit operating expense growth.

The stock gained between a double-digit decline and low twenties. I was just wondering how much token pricing you include in these guidelines? We are receiving some questions about why there is no more growth in earnings per share.

If you could comment on that, is that pricing being reinvested or are there compensations in incentives or anything else we should be aware of? Thank you.

Hello Ken. Yes, there are a few different things here . Let me try to address each of them, or at least cover your main points. Regarding pricing, we have outlined our assumptions about pricing in our guidance.

Our low double-digit adjusted net revenue guidance for fiscal year 2027 anticipates that the contribution of price to growth in 2027 will be consistent with what we saw in 2026.

This includes all the pricing plans we operate with today. I also pointed out that, in terms of timing, the results will be concentrated a bit in the second half of 2027. So, that's the first point.

I think you touched on other matters. Which ultimately led towards the point of profitability per share. Regarding incentives, I have also mentioned this point. Regarding incentives, we expect a larger volume of them in 2027, with around 25% of our payout volume being renewed compared to the 20% we saw in 2026.

As we have stated many times, we run our business to drive net revenue growth and we have a strong plan for 2027. When you think about incentives, remember that they are just a tool.

It is a tool that allows us to align around a common set of goals and priorities with our partners as we work together to continue growing our joint business. In fact, when we achieve larger incentive volumes and growth, it ensures long-term customer relationships and is a key element of our future growth.

Finally, I touched briefly on the point of earnings per share. Yes, we continue to drive productivity growth. As you know , our focus was clear. As we have stated repeatedly, we are focused on achieving strong revenue

Finally, I touched briefly on the point of earnings per share. Yes, we continue to drive productivity growth. As you know, our focus was clear. As we have stated repeatedly, we are focused on achieving strong revenue and profit growth, as we did in 2026, when we achieved 15% growth in net revenue and 16% in earnings per share.

In order to continue doing so, and to grow our business in consumer payments and accelerate growth in that and in cash management services. It is essential that we continue to invest in those growth opportunities.

As you have seen in our guidance for next year, we are continuing to increase our efficiency and invest in these growth opportunities. And when we do that, I believe we will continue to drive revenue and net profit growth.

Following up on your comments about the major upgrades expected in 2027, and with more of your customers taking advantage of value-added offerings, what areas are you most excited about in the new year besides your core capabilities?

Do you believe that your strength in value-added services translates into a deeper customer engagement with you?

Yes, Bill, this is Brian. In short, yes. Yes, and I would like to broaden that to include both our value-added services and Cash Management System (CMS) offerings. The nature of the customer agreements we enter into, as you know, has become much broader as we move into our fiscal year 2027.

It's much deeper. It includes a more comprehensive range of value-added services and cash management services such as "Visa Direct", and some business and small business offers that I mentioned in my pre-prepared notes.

All of this is in addition, of course, to our capabilities in the field of consumer payments. As you know, what these broader agreements do is build a stronger, more interconnected, deeper, and hopefully longer-lasting and more comprehensive relationship with our clients around the world.

So, yes. And I think finally you asked about some specific things in value-added services that we are excited about in this context. Well, I would like to point out many of the cyber capabilities that I mentioned in my prepared remarks.

I would like to point out capabilities such as “Pismo”, which are new areas where we can support our clients in both basic banking and issuance processing. I would also like to mention the consulting work that we have talked about several times in these areas.

So, all of that is very important part of the types of renovations you asked about and that Chris mentioned.

I would like to delve a little deeper, and you, Ryan, have touched on this, but I want to focus more on the Agentic network token. Our understanding is that this code is a type of supported version of the network code.

It is a network symbol with a specific range, so to speak. It will contain all the software aspects, i.e., time window, merchant category code, and dollar amount. It will include prior intent as mentioned in your prepared notes.

All of this is compiled into the proxy network code. The question is, how prepared are issuing banks and what do they need to do to say: Yes, I am prepared to allow an agent to issue an agent network token to one of my clients?

In a related context, what about the merchant payment collectors (acquirers) who are there, and the payment service providers (PSPs)? Are they ready to accept a "shake of coding," so to speak?

I know you mentioned that Shop Pay does that, but I'm wondering about the others.

Firstly, that was a great summary of many of Visa's smart commerce goals and our proxy codes. In short, we work across the entire ecosystem to ensure that issuers, acquirers and other participants are not only ready, but able to enable these transactions on a large scale.

We know how to get this job done. If you look at our history, even with digital tokens before proxy trading, this is work that we have done on a large scale around the world. I believe I mentioned in my notes that we have tokenized e-commerce transactions in 200 countries and territories around the world.

We know how to do this work to enable the ecosystem.

I also want to come back and build on your points about these proxy codes and put them in the context of what we offer through Visa for smart commerce. First, we want to make sure there is an identifiable user behind each agent.

For this reason, the identity verification and coding process is extremely important. The second thing we try to do is make sure that your agent is really your agent. That's why we built agent registration and identification capabilities.

Third, we want to make sure that your agent makes the purchase according to your instructions. So, these are a lot of the data packages I mentioned that go down to intent recording, and ultimately biometric signature.

We want to make sure there is a clear path to a solution in case any problem arises. Any disputes, rules, processes, and things like that. Finally, we want to make sure that all of this works securely everywhere around the world for billions of users on a massive scale.

As you know, this is the work we do. We have announced dozens of partners who use Visa for smart commerce. We are working with dozens of others across the ecosystem who are contributing to enabling all of this, as well as all of our release and acquisition partners around the world to try to make it widely available.

Strong results here. I just wanted to ask about cross-border transactions. We have seen slightly stronger volumes in cross-border transactions in travel, and particularly in e-commerce which jumped to what I believe is 17%.

I am interested in any details regarding both travel and e-commerce as we move towards the coming year, and how we should view those growth rates and some of the factors influencing them.

Hello Brian. Umm, yes. The total volume of cross-border transactions, as I noted, reached 14%, an increase of two points over the third quarter. This difference, as I mentioned in my prepared comments, is due to travel, which rose three points over the third quarter.

This improvement was mainly due to improvements in both inflows and outflows in the Central and Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region. This is the main driver, but inflows to the United States also remained strong in the third quarter.

Of course, I won't repeat myself, but you pointed to the strength in cross-border transactions, which rose by one point from the third quarter. Yes, I mean when we look at the overall volume of cross-border transactions, whether travel or e-commerce, they are strong.

It has been strong throughout fiscal year 2026, and when we look at the history of cross-border transactions, we find it is above historical levels. I think this reflects strong consumer confidence, strong demand for travel experiences, and the fact that e-commerce has also expanded.

E-commerce now includes both discretionary and non-discretionary goods. Therefore, we see strength in this aspect. Clearly, when we look to the future, we assume the engines will stabilize, or perhaps even improve slightly depending on the speed of a possible resolution to the conflict in the "Samia" region.

But this is something we will continue to monitor closely. But yes, we agree with you. Cross-border transactions in general have continued to be a strength, and that is good for Visa.

You stated that you would be executing approximately 25% of the portfolio in terms of renewals in 2027. I believe you did, correct me if I am wrong, 20%, meaning a significant portion of the portfolio is renewed over two years, compared to the usual rate of approximately 15% annually.

But you are still capable of achieving low double-digit growth. I know that we often see price pressures when renewing. However, you still expect low double-digit growth. So, perhaps you could delve into the dynamics of these contracts.

Is it fair to say that you are experiencing two major years of renovations that would normally have taken between 15 and 20 years to come? What is driving this pricing power despite the innovations we are seeing?

Yes, hello Darin. Yes, I'm glad you actually said that. First of all, your facts are absolutely accurate. We are looking at around 25% of our payout volume, which is a larger year than we saw in 2026, which was at around 20%.

But the key point here, which I pointed out, is that we are running the business to achieve net revenue growth, and we have a strong plan for 2027 for low double-percentage-percent net revenue growth, including all the regeneration activities that we see, and that we expect to see in 2027.

So, I think that's exactly the right way to think about it. As I said previously in my previous answer, when we have a renewal activity and we succeed in renewing it, that is great for Visa in the long run.

It ensures that we have long-term relationships with these very important customers, and this will help us continue to achieve strong revenue growth in the distant future.

I wanted to talk about volume growth in the United States. I mean, two years ago we were in the 5-6% range and now we're heading towards an upward trend of 8 to 10% over the past few quarters.

I mean, inflation has obviously helped. There may have been a slight push from the World Cup, but to what extent do you feel this acceleration is more transitional versus structural and sustainable?

As far as the latter is concerned, what do you really see as the main drivers of that?

It's...it's Ryan. Perhaps I will try to deal with this matter. First and foremost, I think it's difficult to say for sure. If you step back a little, and look at the picture from the perspective of the US macroeconomy, we have seen strong growth, as I said, a kind of acceleration from 6, 7, 8% 6, 12 or 18 months ago to the 10% that I referred to.

I believe that the underlying reason for this, more than anything else, is employment. Anyone in this country who wants a job, most likely, has a job. This employment power, despite consumer uncertainty, provides the power you are asking for, and I believe that ultimately it is what drives this spending power.

As I said, uncertainty remains high, but in the context of strong employment, people have jobs, they have real wage growth, and they are spending. Incidentally, we are seeing flexibility in spending ranges on our network.

Therefore, we have seen stability in this respect. But as to how strong it will be, for how long, and what the new normal will be, I think it's very difficult to say for sure.

Can you address the progress you are making in the geographic expansion of "Bismo" and whether the use of "Bismo" can advance basic banking processing in the United States?

Well, I think I made some observations in my prepared comments about the number of new countries and some examples of countries we are entering with "Pismo". I would say that our opportunities for geographical expansion have exceeded my expectations since we acquired "Pizmo".

We are seeing strong demand worldwide from customers, both for Pismo's core banking offerings and its issuer processing capabilities. Therefore, I believe that overall our thesis on the global expansion of "Bizmo" and the fact that "Bizmo" is part of the Visa network has proven to be very strong.

In the United States, I think I spent enough time on the previous earnings call reviewing the market, the sectors, and the types of customers. We see an opportunity in the mid- and low-end levels of the combined offering we have introduced to the market through DPS and "Pismo" for more complex customers on the larger scale, i.e., the largest banks in the United States.

We see opportunities for basic banking services, but these clients manage their basic banking services completely separately from their other capabilities. Therefore, it tends to be a separate discussion about basic banking services.

But you asked, do we think it is possible for us to make progress in the United States? Yes, of course. We've had some great proof points like Wells Fargo and others we talked about in this call in the United States.

We are seeing strong demand worldwide from customers, both for Pismo's core banking offerings and its issuer processing capabilities . In the United States, I think I spent enough time on the previous earnings call reviewing the market, the sectors, and the types of customers.

We see an opportunity in the mid- and low-end levels of the combined offering we have introduced to the market through DPS and "Pismo" for more complex customers on the larger scale, i.e., the largest banks in the United States .

We see opportunities for basic banking services, but these clients manage their basic banking services completely separately from their other capabilities. Therefore, it tends to be a separate discussion about basic banking services .

But you asked, do we think it is possible for us to make progress in the United States? Yes, of course. We've had some great proof points like Wells Fargo and others we talked about in this call in the United States .

Ryan, I would like to follow up on your comments regarding Visa's cybersecurity services. Or, in the current environment, what kind of demand are you seeing for your services related to Visa transactions, and also for cybersecurity and risk services that go beyond Visa transactions and account-to-account (A2A) payments, or even in areas such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and identity, etc.?

This area also appears to be fragmented outside the scope of Visa transactions. So, what are Visa's strengths for success and competitiveness here? Well, Harishita, I think our potential for success is very high.

We have strong relationships with our clients. We have introduced some great products to the market.

I think it’s a fairly fragmented competitive field around the world with lots of different players, and this issue is among the top three issues for our clients, especially financial services clients around the world, who are turning to Visa for help.

So, in our risk, security and value- added services business, we have a wide range of these solutions that we have brought to market, whether they are new or existing solutions , such as the Visa Threat Intelligence Program, and of course, I mentioned BioCatch, which we are very excited about, Visa Advanced Automation, Visa Decision Manager, and other similar things.

But if we expand the scope to include our other areas, as I indicated and mentioned in my prepared notes , we are successful in deploying and generating revenue from these services in our acceptance sector , through our authentication and tokenization platforms, and the Visa Intelligent Automation service, which I believe I mentioned in my notes, which enables acquirers through advanced processing, payment coordination, risk settings, and real-time data across a range of different capabilities.

Likewise, our consulting work in terms of our cybersecurity consulting practices, and even in our own release work, with examples such as alternative intelligent processing . Therefore, this has become a very important set of service lines and services across our entire range of added services.

I believe our chances of success are high, our progress so far is good, and we will continue to invest in this area in the future. Brian, I read with interest about the launch of Visa Direct for stablecoins.

I know you mentioned that in your prepared notes . The press release indicates that Visa is pre-funding cross-border payments using USDC as a starting point, and I know you are part of the Open Standards Consortium.

Can you talk a little about your thoughts on how neutral you are towards stablecoins, your views on liquidity, factors that might affect the inclusion of other stablecoins, etc.?

It would be helpful to get some general ideas about this topic.

certainly. We are very excited about the "Visa Direct" product you mentioned, but to answer the gist of your question, we are neutral towards stablecoins. We are neutral towards blockchains.

We serve a wide range of customers with different preferences and needs around the world.

So, in that particular example, while we started with USDC, we plan to activate other stablecoins going forward. If you look at our settlement processes as an example, I believe I mentioned in our prepared notes that we now support 10 blockchains in settlement.

We now support five stablecoins for settlement: USDC, USDG , EURC, PYUSD, and SBC.

We have many customers who use it to meet different needs around the world. Therefore, we will remain neutral. We believe this is the right approach, but as I pointed out, we are part of the Open Union.

We are part of OUSD . OUSD will also, as you should assume, be an integrated offering in all these other products, not only in settlement, but in Visa Direct and others in the future.

I will conclude with my favorite question about future vision, if you don't mind. 2026 was a very special year for growth. Ryan and Chris, I'm thinking about 2027, how would you describe the vision for growth compared to this time last year?

Where is the vision clearest? Where does it appear weakest? And where might you be most careful?

Yes, I can answer that. Look, the approach we took in sharing our initial guidance for 2027 is very similar to what we took at the beginning of fiscal year 2026. We shared the initial guidance.

We have also shared with you a set of planning assumptions on which those guidelines are based.

Some of these assumptions are macro-assumptions, such as the assumption of consumer resilience and that economic engines will remain stable and healthy. Other things depend on the strength of our execution, such as securing a large number of renewable customer contracts this year.

So, as you know, we are thinking about those things, and of course, as with any plan, there are risks and opportunities, but the plan we have shared with you, I believe, reflects a balanced view that takes all of that into account.

When we put all of that together, we feel very optimistic about our plan as we head into fiscal year 2027.