Premium cards with higher rewards cost retailers more to process, and they soon may be able to pass that onto you.

Meanwhile, the company continues to send a lot of cash back to shareholders. In fiscal 2025, Visa returned $22.8 billion through share repurchases and dividends. The bulk of this capital return was in the form of share repurchases during fiscal 2025. Visa repurchased $18.2 billion worth of its own stock.

A proposed legal settlement between Visa, Mastercard and U.S. merchants could soon change how some shoppers pay at checkout.

Mastercard has announced a collaboration with Google on its Universal Commerce Protocol to boost secure, intuitive & flexible agentic commerce experiences

Credit card payments move trillions of dollars every year, yet the way those transactions settle has barely changed in decades. A December 2025 report from Amplify ETFs highlights a shift that could change that.

“If those agents are ultimately going to do autonomous buying, consumers have to trust them,” Klenoff says. “That means standards, governance and layers of security.” Mastercard is already working on what it describes as agentic pay – systems that allow AI agents to transact securely on a consumer’s behalf.

Walmart filed a complaint about the Visa and Mastercard settlement offer saying the proposal did not provide relief to large merchants. Merchants challenging Visa and Mastercard regarding swipe fees on credit card transactions recently complained in writing about the settlement offer made in November.

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® is a good option if you want American Airlines perks for a lower annual fee. The card charges a $0 annual fee for the first year (then $99), and you still get a free checked bag and preferred boarding for you and up to four companions.

With fintechs and legal cases pressuring payment fees, the card companies are leaning more on revenue from other sources.

Mastercard stock: premium valuation vs strong growth, buybacks, and cash flow. Read here for this updated look at MA and why I remain bullish.

Through the enhanced partnership, Fiserv will adopt Mastercard’s Agent Pay Acceptance Framework, which establishes a secure system for allowing AI agents to make purchases on a cardholder’s behalf.