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CMSPI – IAC State of the Industry Report
CMSPI – IAC State of the Industry Report
Section 2.2 – The Card Acquiring Industry In Section 2.2 we assess the business models of 6 of the world’s largest publicly listed merchant acquirers. 60 Key takeaways: • Acquiring market profitability is volatile but 15%+ operating margins were consistently reported in 2023. • Adyen remains the most profitable acquirer amongst those covered in this section of the report. • The acquiring industry has suffered valuation hits in the last couple of years, and valuation multiples are seemingly volatile. As shown in the tables below, Fiserv has seen impressive revenue growth in recent years, driven by factors such as the success of its Clover product for smaller merchants. Meanwhile, FIS/Worldpay has seen revenues stagnate and slightly fall since its 2020 peak. European acquirers Nexi and Worldline continue to grow via acquisitions while Adyen continues to post impressive organic revenue growth figures year-on-year. Acquiring industry profitability is volatile, although all 4 U. S. present acquirers covered by this analysis posted over 15% operating profit margins in 2023. By contrast, Nexi and Worldline both posted large losses in 2023 following profits in 2022. Profitability volatility has inevitability resulted in valuation volatility. This has even been the case for Adyen – who trades at a large premium, with high margins, but has seen valuation drop-off in recent months.
INTERCHANGE AND REWARDS The U.S. is the world’s largest economy, with $224 billion of card fees in 2023 (see Section 5.2). Here we will look at the underlying economics of this giant industry. Do consumers and merchants get net value for interchange fees? Five major U.S. based banks (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Capital One and Wells Fargo) publish interchange fee incomes as part of their annual public disclosures. These five banks posted a combined $70.8 billion of interchange (and in some cases merchant processing) income in 2022, corresponding to around 18% of their total revenue. Where does this money go? Credit card rewards programs attract consumers with promises of cashback, travel points, and exclusive benefits. The five banks also posted $53.1 billion in cardholder rewards expenditure in 2022, suggesting on average 75% of fee income is paid out to consumers in rewards. Four of the five banks posted higher levels of interchange/ merchant processing income than cardholder rewards expenditure. Additionally, CMSPI analysis at an individual card type level supports the conclusion that banks typically generate higher interchange fee income than they incur in cardholder rewards expenses.
Mastercard Signature
Mastercard World Elite
Visa Traditional Rewards
Visa Infinite
Visa Signature Preferred
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
Average Reward Average Interchange
Graph 2.5 – Average Interchange and Average Reward for Global networks by Credit Card Type
60 Public as of January 2024
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