Visa Inc. has reason to celebrate after recording an 8.8 per cent rise in profits over the first fiscal quarter.
Boosted by the continued rise in payments made over the web to ecommerce retailers, the company kicked off 2014 in style by recording a healthy increase in business.
For the quarter ending 31 December, the company saw profits hit $1.41 billion (£855 million) – a significant rise on the $1.29 billion (£783 million) seen a year earlier.
Reporting on the figures, wsj.com has attributed the rise to a shift in spending habits which has played very much into the hands of credit and debit card companies.
Visa earns money whenever its cards are used and the rise of ecommerce will have worked much to its advantage. US card payments grew by eight per cent in the same fiscal quarter compared with 2012, where the figure rose by 10 per cent.
Many have expected card firms to come under big competition from the bitcoin, but Visa’s chief executive officer Charles Scharf told businessinsider.com his company was “very comfortable” with the way its business was heading.
Commenting on the bitcoin’s rise in value and importance, Mr Scharf said Visa is “certainly paying attention to it” but insisted the concept is still in its infancy.
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