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Mastercard Inc. grew its fourth-quarter net revenue by double digits in the face of a market that has forced payments companies to wrestle with a slew of knotty considerations, including the potential impact of a major bill that would cap credit card rates and the dizzying effect of fast moves by the market toward agentic commerce. “It’s been a fast-paced start to the new year,” noted chief executive Michael Miebach, who spoke early Thursday as the card network reviewed its fourth-quarter 2025 performance.
One big project, at least, seems to be settled, even if it has been nerve-wracking for analysts who follow Mastercard. Capital One’s $35-billion deal for the Discover network last year meant the big bank’s debit card network moved to Discover’s platform from Mastercard, a consequence that Mastercard’s top brass has repeatedly said the network can deal with smoothly.
“We continue to invest in the network,” said Miebach while reviewing the fallout of the deal. The benefit of that approach, he said, is that Cap One has agreed to extend its commitment with Mastercard for its credit card portfolio. “It’s a strong signal the Mastercard network is valued [as] we continue to invest in the network,” Miebach said.
Other top-of-mind developments, he said, include the recent renewal of interest in Washington in the Credit Card Competition Act and the rising prominence of agentic commerce, or shopping guided by AI agents. The CCCA, he noted, would harm the consumers it is intended to help by defunding benefits such as rewards and potentially restricting access to credit. “It’s a race to the bottom,” he said. “The risk is pretty clear.”
On the other hand, he argued, “the payments ecosystem is highly competitive” as it is. Recent proposals for a cap on credit cards, such as the 10% limit suggested by President Trump, would work against that competitive market, he added. “It doesn’t affect us, as we don’t set rates, [but] here’s a proposal that comes with a whole range of consequences,” Miebach noted.
Agentic commerce, on the other hand, involves technology that could soon benefit consumers in a big way, Miebach argues, by enabling faster and more targeted commerce. “What an exciting space,” he said. “It’s going to come fast. A consumer using an agent [for online shopping] just resonates with people.” Mastercard launched its own agentic entry, Agent Pay, last spring in a partnership with Google.
“It’s hard to predict how this is going scale, but that [agentic commerce] train is leaving the station,” Miebach predicted. “There’s a transaction opportunity in this. A [shopper’s] basket might be spread over many merchants.”
Those baskets produced $2.82 trillion in volume globally for the network in the quarter, up 7% year-over-year, with $1.52 trillion in debit and prepaid spending and $1.3 trillion in credit card volume. In the U.S. market, volume totaled $825 billion ($438 billion credit and prepaid), up 4%. Revenue for the quarter came to $8.81 billion, a 15% rise. Net income totaled $4.28 billion, up 17%.
