Agent commerce, stablecoins, and consistent consumer spending were among the notable points in Mastercard’s third-quarter financial results, released on Thursday, October 30th.
CEO Michael Miebach mentioned that the economic environment is generally favorable, with robust consumer and business spending observed during the quarter. He noted that inflation remains relatively stable, and the labor market is balanced.
Miebach highlighted that there are still about $11 trillion and $1.5 trillion in cash and check transactions worldwide, emphasizing the significant “long-term opportunity” in consumer payments. He pointed out that the rental market, in particular, is a promising area, as most payments occur via ACH or checks, and these are recurring transactions.
Agent Commerce is Here
When discussing artificial intelligence’s potential, he stated, “Agent commerce is here, and we are at the heart of it with global acceptance.” He shared that Mastercard is collaborating with major entities like OpenAI on agent commerce protocols and partnering with Google and Cloudflare to establish industry standards promoting security. With Mastercard Agent With Pay, the company is enabling agents to conduct transactions within its payment network securely. He reported that they have already enrolled agents and developed tools to simplify onboarding for others.
Miebach added that their authorization framework allows any Mastercard merchant to engage without extensive development, creating a no-code approach. In response to an analyst’s question about agent commerce, he explained that they have established a framework for merchant integration, making it simpler for vendors and third-party protocol providers like Stripe and OpenAI to collaborate.
He acknowledged that “Agenttic has a considerable journey ahead to effectively deliver services targeted at consumer and business applications.”
The CEO also described stablecoins as a promising growth avenue, pointing out that transactions in stablecoins and cryptocurrencies have surged by 25% since the year’s start.
Miebach mentioned that Mastercard Move has enjoyed a 35% increase in remittance-related transactions. They are integrating stablecoins into Mastercard Move’s features to facilitate payments and remittances, supporting various use cases from pre-funding to international stablecoin transfers, allowing users to convert to local fiat currencies.
Additionally, CFO Sachin Mehra indicated during the call that net revenue has increased by 15%, with U.S. debit and credit spending rising by 7% to $8.6 billion. Cross-border trade volumes saw a 15% increase as well.
He noted that contactless transactions are becoming more common, accounting for 77% of all in-person purchases in the third quarter, a rise of 6 percentage points from the previous year.
Looking forward, the company anticipates that in the fourth quarter, consumer and business spending will remain strong, with net revenue growth expected to be in the low double-digit range, as shared by the CFO.
The company’s shares saw a 0.6% increase in early trading on Thursday.
“What we’re observing is steady growth across the U.S. and globally, spanning both affluent and mass markets. Overall, consumers are continuing to spend,” Miebach remarked during a conference call when asked about the status of consumer spending this quarter.
