Earnings Review: 2024 and the road ahead

Every road trip begins with a good map — and for us, that map is our strategy, the same one we walked through at our Investment Community Meeting last year. The consistency of our strategy over the years has allowed us to execute today with an eye on long-term growth. A core element of our strategy is the deliberate diversification of our business.

The investments we have made over the years have strengthened the value that we can deliver to our customers and the broader economy. That starts with a broad geographic footprint. The diversification extends well beyond locations. It’s also reflected in the products and services that we offer. 

Many people still think of Mastercard as a credit card company. While that was our origins almost 60 years ago, today we offer consumers and business a wide range of ways to pay. Commercial payments represented approximately 13% of total GDV in 2024, and there’s much more opportunity to unlock. And on the other side of that virtuous cycle are our value-added services and solutions, which now represent nearly 40% of total net revenues.

Yesterday, we reported on our performance for the fourth quarter and full year 2024. In our conference call, we discussed our strong quarter and the momentum that we carry into 2025. A few highlights — from the quarter and our ongoing roadmap — include:

Growing our core

People rely on Mastercard, turning to our cards and the other payment choices we power for everyday purchases and to help power their businesses. Every day our teams are working to give people a reason to choose Mastercard. That’s why we’re improving the experience every step of the way. It includes what so many take for granted — the simplicity and security of a tap at a terminal. We’re building on that with tokens, passkeys and biometrics to make it easier to verify who you are and authenticate every purchase, making payments faster, more secure and simpler. In 2024, we tokenized about 4 billion transactions per month, a huge step forward from where we started just over a decade ago.

Making the commercial personal

Commercial payments are inherently complex given the sheer volume of business being conducted across geographies and a wide range of players. But the needs of these organizations are simple and straightforward — they want certainty on when payments and deliveries will arrive. They need to know that when money is sent, it’s getting to who needs it, when they need it. It’s these demands that are driving us to think differently about solutions like virtual cards, which enable invoice payments between businesses in a safe and simple manner with valuable data flows.

Building for the future

Our value-added services and solutions start with and go beyond the transaction. From data analytics and fraud protection to loyalty and digital identity, these innovations are integral to our journey. They allow us to provide more personalized, data-driven solutions to customers, while continuing to strengthen how we help them secure their environment with AI-powered tools such as Recorded Future.

We are well-positioned for the opportunities ahead, driven by our diversified business model, the significant opportunity for further secular shift to digital forms of payment in both consumer and commercial flows, and strong demand for our differentiated value-added services and solutions.

Thanks to our teams around the world — the momentum we’ve built so far is just the beginning. We’re ready for the journey ahead.