Visa, Mastercard See Spending Soar Despite Omicron Headwind
- Cross-border growth slowed amid travel disruptions globally
- Mastercard expects travel to resume as omicron variant passes
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In the eyes of Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., consumers are learning to live with the pandemic.
Both networks said Thursday that spending on their cards surged to a record in the final three months of last year, even as the highly contagious omicron variant disrupted travel and sparked fresh rounds of lockdowns. Spending on Visa’s network soared 20% to $2.97 trillion in its fiscal first quarter, while Mastercard’s purchase volume jumped 27% to $1.66 trillion.