I have the Visa ($V (-3,1%) ) Investor Day 2025 and was able to gain the following insights:
Visa presented a clear strategy at the Investor Day that focuses on long-term growth, technological innovation and expanding its range of services. Nothing new so far. The company is focusing on four core strategic areas: strengthening consumer payments (cards and non-card payments), growth in Commercial and Money Movement Solutions (CMS), expansion of Value-Added Services (VAS) and consistent customer orientation.
Jack Forestell, Chief Product & Strategy Officer, explained the enormous market dynamics in the area of consumer payments. Visa is benefiting from the switch to cashless payments, market share gains in ACH systems (Automated Clearing House) and the expansion in Open Banking. Particularly exciting is the new "Flexible Credential", a solution that enables consumers to use various sources of financing with a single card.
Christopher Newkirk, President of CMS, sees enormous potential in the commercial payments sector, which has a market volume of USD 200 trillion. Visa wants to accelerate its growth through Visa Direct, particularly in cross-border payments. In addition, customized solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises are intended to increase acceptance in the commercial sector.
One of the strongest growth areas remains the Value-Added Services (VAS) business. Antony Cahill presented impressive figures: VAS sales increased from USD 5 billion in the 2021 financial year to USD 8.8 billion in 2024 - an annual growth rate of 20%. Visa sees particularly high long-term potential in the areas of risk management, acceptance solutions and data analysis.
During the Q&A session, the focus was particularly on the long-term growth strategy. Analysts questioned whether Visa can continue to achieve strong sales growth in view of the increasing saturation in the consumer payments sector. Chris Suh, CFO, was optimistic and referred to the expansion into account-to-account payments and alternative payment systems.
It was also emphasized that Visa sees itself not only as a card provider, but also as a technological infrastructure provider for all payment flows. Open banking in particular opens up new opportunities to link banks and FinTechs with Visa technologies and generate new revenue.
The cross-border dynamic was also discussed intensively. Visa continues to benefit from the global acceptance of its cards and the recovery in the travel and e-commerce sector. Growth in cross-border payments remains an important pillar of the corporate strategy, as this area is particularly high-margin.
In addition, the capital allocation strategy was scrutinized. Visa has invested heavily in share buybacks in recent years and remains committed to returning capital to shareholders. At the same time, investments in digital infrastructure and payment innovations are being prioritized. Analysts wanted to know to what extent Visa can continue to achieve strong growth in the VAS segment without margins coming under pressure. Management expressed confidence that economies of scale and the increased use of existing Visa technologies will maintain profitability.
The Visa Investor Day 2025 underlined the company's strong market position and clear strategic direction. With a combination of growth in the Consumer Payments segment, the expansion of Commercial Payments and an aggressive scaling of the VAS business, Visa remains well positioned to benefit from the digitalization of payments in the coming years.
I hope you enjoyed these interesting insights from the Investor Day!
