Mastercard Expects To Continue Growing Despite Political Turbulence in the U.S.

Mastercard Inc.’s key operating and financial metrics all grew in the fourth quarter, and president and chief executive Ajay Banga on Tuesday said he expects them to continue growing despite the political turbulence created by President Donald Trump’s new administration.

In the United States, total fourth-quarter credit and debit card purchase volume increased 2.7% to $333 billion from $324 billion a year earlier. Credit card volume hit $180 billion, up 3.8%, while debit volume grew more slowly, up 1.4% to $153 billion.

Growth was higher elsewhere in the world, especially Latin America, where purchase volume surged 16.9% on a local currency basis to $56 billion. In India, where the government recently withdrew two of the country’s most widely used currency notes, purchase volume jumped 75%, Banga said.

Mastercard reported that it switched 15.2 billion transactions globally in the fourth quarter, up 17.2%. The Purchase, N.Y.-based network posted net income of $940 million, an increase of 5% on a currency-neutral basis, on net revenues of $2.76 billion, up 10%.

“Overall the results were in line with our expectations,” chief financial officer Martina Hund-Mejean said during a morning conference call with stock analysts.

During the call, one analyst told Banga that he wanted to “put you on the hot seat” by asking how some of the Trump Administration’s initiatives might affect Mastercard. That prompted a five-minute response in which Banga initially said he was encouraged by Trump’s plan to reduce regulations.

“He seems genuinely concerned about the manner in which regulations enacted are creating millstones for businesses both small and large to grow in the U.S.,” Banga said.

Trump’s most controversial initiative since he took office Jan. 20 has been the temporary travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries. Announced Friday, the ban spurred protests nationwide.

“I do believe like everybody else that in the corporate world, a lot of us have built our business on the freer flow of cross-border trade, data, and people,” said Banga, a native of India. “If that were to change over time, that will be a problem. But I don’t believe that that’s what the administration wants to do. They want to grow the economy. The economy’s not going to grow without the right inputs in the right places … I continue to be relatively bullish on where this economy could go over the next four or five years.”

Regarding a regulatory matter in the United Kingdom, Banga said he expects Mastercard’s planned $920 million acquisition of London-based VocaLink Holdings Ltd., operator of that country’s faster-payments system, to close this spring. The U.K.’s antitrust regulator had questioned how the deal could affect ATM-services suppliers, but Banga said Mastercard is working to resolve its concerns. VocaLink will give Mastercard a major foothold in non-card electronic payments.