Visa, Mastercard Close to Removing Legal Overhang With Minimal Financial Impact, UBS Says

MT Newswires Live11-12

Visa (V) and Mastercard's (MA) updated proposed settlement agreement with US merchants is expected to remove a long-standing legal overhang without directly affecting the companies' unit economics, UBS Securities said in a note Tuesday.

Analysts said the settlement, which still requires court approval, directly addresses interchange fees, the charges paid by merchants to card-issuing banks, rather than network fees, which are the main source of revenue for Visa and Mastercard.

Historically, Visa and Mastercard have maintained stable profitability even when faced with interchange regulation or fee reductions. For example, Visa's overall company net yield has been roughly consistent over time, hovering at around 26 basis points in 2009 and about 28 bps for 2025, according to the note.

"This stability came despite prior US debit focused interchange regulation, mix shifts to larger banks, mix shifts to larger merchants, continued regulation around the world, etc.," analysts said. "Further, a greater portion of card network revenue resides on the merchant side (versus issuing banks), particularly within the cross-border business."

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