Visa CEO Warns Against Credit Card Act, Reports Strong Earnings & Agentic Commerce Growth

Visa is navigating a complex landscape of regulatory scrutiny and technological evolution, as highlighted by recent earnings calls and executive statements. The company is actively defending against potential legislation while simultaneously investing in the future of digital commerce.

Regulatory Challenges and Visa’s Response

President Trump’s renewed support for the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) has brought fresh attention to credit card fees and costs. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney reiterated the company’s longstanding position that the CCCA would have “far-reaching negative consequences,” weakening security protections, reducing credit access, limiting card options, and potentially eliminating rewards programs.

Did You Know? Visa’s revenue for the first fiscal quarter ended December 31st totaled $10.9 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year.

McInerney emphasized Visa’s commitment to informing lawmakers about the potential impacts of proposed policies. “We view it as our job to educate elected representatives on the impacts that the various policies that are being floated around could have,” he stated. He further described the competitive environment within the payments industry as “intense.”

Investing in the Future: Agentic Commerce

Beyond navigating regulatory hurdles, Visa is actively developing its Visa Intelligence Commerce platform, built on token credentials, to enable “agentic commerce.” The company is collaborating with over 100 partners globally, with more than 30 actively building within its sandbox environment.

Visa has expanded into business-to-business agentic payments through a partnership with Ramps corporate bill pay. A distribution agreement with Amazon Web Services will list Visa Intelligent Commerce on its marketplace, allowing developers to integrate the platform into their solutions. Visa is also working to ensure interoperability between its platform and Google’s new Universal Commerce Protocol.

Expert Insight: Visa’s investment in agentic commerce represents a strategic move to adapt to evolving consumer expectations and maintain its position in a rapidly changing digital payments landscape. This proactive approach could mitigate some of the risks associated with potential regulatory changes.

First Quarter Earnings Report

Visa’s first fiscal quarter results, reported for the period ending December 31st, showed a 15% revenue increase to $10.9 billion, exceeding analyst estimates. This growth was driven by resilient consumer spending, a strong holiday season, and increased payments volume. Expenses rose by 27% to $4.2 billion.

Net income landed at $5.9 billion, or $3.03 per diluted share, a 14% and 17% increase respectively, but fell slightly short of Wall Street’s expectations of $6.05 billion. Payments volume increased 8% year-over-year, with U.S. debit and credit volume rising 8%. Cross-border payment volume, excluding European transactions, grew by 11%, and total processed transactions increased 9% to 69.4 billion.

Service revenue increased 13% to $4.8 billion, while commercial and money movement solutions revenue saw a stronger-than-expected 20% growth. Visa Direct transactions grew 23% to 3.7 billion, and value-added services revenue increased 28% to $3.2 billion. Visa anticipates low-double-digit revenue growth for both the second quarter and full year 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Credit Card Competition Act?

The Credit Card Competition Act is legislation that Visa believes would have negative consequences, potentially weakening security protections, reducing credit access, limiting card options, and eliminating rewards programs.

What is agentic commerce?

Agentic commerce, as Visa is developing it, involves enabling more partners across the commerce ecosystem to build and utilize Visa’s technology, including token credentials and the Visa Intelligence Commerce platform.

How did Visa perform financially in the first fiscal quarter?

Visa reported $10.9 billion in revenue for the first fiscal quarter, a 15% increase from the prior year, and net income of $5.9 billion, or $3.03 per diluted share.

As Visa continues to navigate regulatory challenges and invest in new technologies, it will be interesting to see how these factors shape the future of the payments industry.