Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosure.
Visa continues to monitor the COVID-19 impact globally. All commentary for February year-over-year growth excludes the 2020 leap year impact on operating metrics.
In February, total U.S. payments volume rose 9% year-over-year, down 2 points from January due to weather-related impacts in the third week of February and less benefit from stimulus-related spending. Debit was up 22% and Credit was down 4% year-over-year but improved from January. Card not present excluding travel grew 30% and card present declined 6% year-over-year, both decreasing in line with overall spend. This was also generally the case for spend by merchant category, with the exception of fuel and travel-related spending growth which both improved by more than 5 points.
International market trends varied based on the level of COVID-related restrictions. February year-over-year payments volume growth improved from January levels in most countries across Europe, Asia Pacific, CEMEA and Latin America, with Italy, Singapore, and Hong Kong improving significantly as they lapped 2020 restrictions.
Cross-border volume excluding intra-Europe transactions declined 26% year-over-year in February, a 6 point improvement from January. This improvement was due to card not present excluding travel volume growth accelerating to 27% as well as the lapping of lower 2020 travel related cross-border spend. February travel related cross-border volume (card present and card not present) declined 60% year-over-year. Total cross-border volume declined 16% year-over-year in February.
Global processed transactions increased 2% year-over-year in February, 1 point lower than January, reflecting the impacts of weather in the U.S. and COVID-related restrictions globally.
As compared to the February exit, the trends in the first week of March improved moderately for U.S. payments volume and more significantly for cross-border volume excluding intra-Europe transactions, in part due to the lapping of lower 2020 levels.
The table below shows the increase / (decrease) in certain key metrics against the comparable 2020 periods for January, February 1-28 (to exclude the impact of 2020 leap year), February and quarter-to-date (January 1 – March 7, 2021):
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Year-over-Year Increase / (Decrease)
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January
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February 1-28
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February
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Quarter-
to-Date**
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U.S. Payments Volume
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11%
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9%
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4%
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8%
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Credit
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(6%)
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(4%)
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(8%)
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(6%)
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Debit
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31%
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22%
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16%
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23%
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Cross-Border Volume Excluding Intra-Europe Transactions*
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(32%)
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(26%)
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(29%)
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(29%)
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Cross-Border Volume Total*
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(21%)
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(16%)
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(19%)
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(19%)
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Processed Transactions
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3%
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2%
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(2%)
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1%
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*In constant dollars
**January 1 - March 7, 2021
Charts that follow provide growth trends against the comparable 2020 periods by week in December, January, February (excluding February 29, 2020) and through March 7 for U.S. payments volumes, processed transactions and cross-border volumes:
The foregoing information is preliminary in nature and has not been audited or reviewed by our auditors and is subject to change.
All information in Item 7.01 is furnished but not filed and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any of Visa’s filings under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 except to the extent otherwise set forth therein.
Forward-Looking Statements
This current report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that relate to, among other things, the impact on our underlying business drivers and other volume and transaction trends as a result of COVID-19, our future operations, prospects, developments, strategies and business growth. Forward-looking statements generally are identified by words such as “anticipates,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “projects,” “outlook,” “could,” “should,” “will,” “continue” and other similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made, are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control and are difficult to predict.
Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, our forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
•impact of global economic, political, market, health and social events or conditions, including the impact of COVID-19;
•increased oversight and regulation of the global payments industry and our business;
•impact of government-imposed obligations and/or restrictions on international payment systems;
•outcome of tax, litigation and governmental investigation matters;
•increasingly intense competition in the payments industry, including competition for our clients and merchants;
•proliferation and continuous evolution of new technologies and business models;
•our ability to maintain relationships with our clients, acquirers, processors, merchants and other third parties;
•brand or reputational damage;
•exposure to loss or illiquidity due to settlement guarantees;
•the impact of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union;
•a disruption, failure, breach or cyber-attack of our networks or systems;
•risks, uncertainties and the failure to achieve the anticipated benefits with respect to our acquisitions and other strategic investments; and
•other factors described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2020, and our subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K.
Except as required by law, we do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.