Visa (V) FY2026 results: revenue $45.9 billion, up 14.8% on the year

Visa is a global payments technology company that provides transaction processing services, primarily authorization, clearing and settlement, among consumers, issuing and acquiring financial institutions and sellers. It runs its own processing network, VisaNet, across more than 200 countries and territories. During fiscal 2026, 355 billion payments and cash transactions with Visa's brand were processed by Visa or other networks, an average of 973 million per day, and 281 billion of those were processed by Visa. Its clients include over 14,000 financial institutions, and there were over 5 billion payment credentials available for use at more than 400 million seller locations. Visa is not a financial institution: it does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for account holders.

How a payment moves through Visa

Visa calls its structure the "four-party" model. A consumer buys from a seller with a Visa card or other payment product. The seller passes the transaction data to an acquirer, usually a bank or third-party processing firm. Through VisaNet, the acquirer presents the data to Visa, which sends it to the issuer to check the account holder's balance or credit line. Once authorized, the issuer posts the transaction to the consumer's account and pays the acquirer the transaction value minus the interchange reimbursement fee. The acquirer pays the seller the purchase amount minus the merchant discount rate. Visa says it sets its own fees to issuers and acquirers independently of both interchange fees and merchant discount rates.

What it sells

Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid products are issued by its financial institution clients. The Visa/PLUS Global ATM network provides cash access. The company describes Tap to Pay as the default way Visa cardholders pay, at 84% of face-to-face transactions globally and 76% in the United States in September 2026. Its Visa Token Service replaces 16-digit account numbers with tokens, and over 60% of ecommerce transactions were tokenized as of 30 September 2026.

Visa Commercial Solutions offers small business cards, corporate cards, purchasing cards, virtual cards and related reconciliation and data tools. Visa Direct moves money across cards, bank accounts and digital wallets, using more than 100 domestic payment schemes and more than 60 card and wallet networks. In fiscal 2026 it processed more than 15 billion transactions for more than 800 clients.

Value-added services

Visa groups its services in four portfolios: Issuing Solutions, Acceptance Solutions, Risk and Security Solutions, and Advisory and Other Services. It offered more than 250 products and services as of 30 September 2026.

• Issuer processing through Visa DPS, Prisma and Pismo
• Acceptance platforms such as Cybersource and Authorize.net
• Fraud tools under the Visa Protect name
• Consulting through Visa Consulting and Analytics
• Marketing services
• Open banking through Tink

In fiscal 2026 Visa completed the acquisitions of Prisma and Newpay in Argentina. It also signed an agreement to acquire BioCatch, a fraud intelligence provider, subject to closing conditions.

The company also describes work on agentic commerce through Visa Intelligent Commerce and on stablecoins through the Visa Stablecoin Platform.

How it earns revenue

• Service revenue: earned for services supporting client use of Visa's payment services. Payments volume is its primary driver.
• Data processing revenue: earned for authorization, clearing and settlement, network access and some value-added services. The number of processed transactions is its primary driver.
• International transaction revenue: earned for cross-border processing and currency conversion.
• Other revenue: includes advisory services, license fees and account holder services.
• Client incentives: paid to financial institutions, sellers and other partners, and deducted from the other four.

Who it competes with

Visa says it competes against all forms of payment, including cash and checks. Named card network competitors are American Express, Diners Club/Discover, JCB, Mastercard and UnionPay. In value-added services it faces technology, data, consulting and fintech companies. The company points to its security, convenience, speed and reliability, its number of payment credentials and its acceptance footprint as reasons it succeeds.

Regulation

Interchange rates are regulated or influenced in a growing number of jurisdictions, including under the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States and the Interchange Fee Regulation in the European Economic Area. In the United States, federal banking agencies oversee Visa as a technology service provider to financial institutions. Visa Europe is a Recognized Payment System in the UK and was recently designated a systemically important payment system by the European Central Bank. Visa does not permit institutions in countries under comprehensive OFAC sanctions to issue or acquire Visa cards.

Its people

As of 30 September 2026, Visa had approximately 34,800 employees in 90 countries and territories, with approximately 65% outside the United States. Voluntary turnover was approximately 7%.

From Visa's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 30 September 2026. The filing

Written from the 10-K filed 5 November 2026: read the full 10-K.