Mastercard reported third-quarter net revenue of $9.81 billion, up 14% year on year on both a reported and a currency-neutral basis. Payment network revenue came to $5.75 billion and value-added services and solutions revenue to $4.06 billion. Net income rose 18% to $4.63 billion. The company said transactions carried out by AI agents are growing every week, after it expanded its Agent Pay programme.

What it means: The results confirm that consumer card spending is holding up despite uncertainty, and that Mastercard earns more and more from services beyond moving the payment. Value-added services such as fraud prevention, authentication, data analytics and cybersecurity now make up around 40% of revenue. That means banks and merchants are paying increasingly for tools the network offers on top of basic fees, something regulators in Europe and the UK are watching. The mention of AI agent payments shows card networks want to sit at the centre of this market, with digital tokens that replace the card number and rules about what an agent can buy. For Greek banks and online shops, preparing for such transactions will run through the networks' services, so it is worth following the new terms and fees. At the same time, Europe is pushing alternatives such as the digital euro and the pan-European Wero initiative, aiming for less dependence on American card networks. Profit growing faster than revenue shows how lucrative the model remains.

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