ServiceWide moat

Visa (V) — moat facet

About 12.6 basis points of what cardholders spend, paid by the banks Visa also pays to keep.

Service revenue is the fee on how much is spent, rather than on how many times. It brought in $17,539 million in fiscal 2025, against $16,114 million in 2024 and $14,826 million in 2023.1

Growth, June 2026 quarter on a year earlier (%)+11%Payments volume+13.7%Service revenueVisa Form 10-Q, quarter to 30 June 2026
Revenue ahead of volume: the pricing is still adding.

What is inside the line is revenue earned for services provided in support of clients' use of Visa's payment services, and value-added services related to some issuing solutions.2 Its main driver is payments volume, which was $13.9 trillion in fiscal 2025.3

Set against that volume, the line is small. Service revenue was about 12.6 basis points of payments volume in fiscal 2025.4 This is the fee most people mean when they call Visa a toll, and it is paid by Visa's bank clients rather than by cardholders directly.

The history is the slowest of the core lines. It was $8,918 million in fiscal 2018 and rose only 1% in the pandemic year, to $9,804 million in fiscal 2020.5 From 2018 to 2025 it compounded at 10.1% a year.6

The filings attribute the growth to volume, price and card benefits. In fiscal 2025 it grew 9% on 7% more nominal payments volume, select pricing modifications and card benefits.7 In the June 2026 quarter it grew 14% to $4,922 million, on 11% more payments volume, pricing and card benefits.8

This is the line that client incentives are paid against. The issuers who generate the volume are the parties Visa pays to keep it, and the pages on the incentive line show those payments growing faster than net revenue in two of the last three years.

This is a wide moat: a fee on most Visa card spending, set by Visa and paid by the banks that want the brand. The number that would change the view is service revenue growth against payments volume growth, 14% against 11% in the June 2026 quarter.910 If the gap closes or turns negative, pricing has stopped adding to volume.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Up 14% in the June 2026 quarter against 11% payments volume growth; pricing is still adding to volume.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
Service revenue growth against payments volume growth, latest quarter
+14% against +11% in Q3 FY2026

If the gap closes or turns negative, pricing has stopped adding to volume.

How it's calculated: 4,922 / 4,330 - 1 against the 10-Q's stated 11% payments volume growth.
Source: Visa Form 10-Q, Q3 FY2026 (Moat Explorer calc) ↗
References
  1. ReportedIt brought in $17,539 million in fiscal 2025, against $16,114 million in 2024 and $14,826 million in 2023.
    Visa Form 10-K FY2025 - net revenue by line 2023-2025: service $14,826M/$16,114M/$17,539M, data processing $16,007M/$17,714M/$19,993M, international transaction $11,638M/$12,665M/$14,166M, other $2,479M/$3,197M/$4,053M, client incentives ($12,297M)/($13,764M)/($15,751M), net revenue $32,653M/$35,926M/$40,000M; line definitions; FY2025 drivers: service +9% on 7% payments volume growth, pricing and card benefits; data processing +13% on 10% more processed transactions and pricing; international transaction +12% on 13% cross-border volume growth and currency volatility; other +27% on advisory and other services and pricing; processed transactions 212,579M/233,758M/257,545M; payments volume $13.9 trillion; 329 billion Visa-branded transactions; one reportable segment — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. 6 November 2025 · source ↗
  2. ReportedWhat is inside the line is revenue earned for services provided in support of clients' use of Visa's payment services, and value-added services related to some issuing solutions.
    Visa Form 10-K FY2025 - net revenue by line 2023-2025: service $14,826M/$16,114M/$17,539M, data processing $16,007M/$17,714M/$19,993M, international transaction $11,638M/$12,665M/$14,166M, other $2,479M/$3,197M/$4,053M, client incentives ($12,297M)/($13,764M)/($15,751M), net revenue $32,653M/$35,926M/$40,000M; line definitions; FY2025 drivers: service +9% on 7% payments volume growth, pricing and card benefits; data processing +13% on 10% more processed transactions and pricing; international transaction +12% on 13% cross-border volume growth and currency volatility; other +27% on advisory and other services and pricing; processed transactions 212,579M/233,758M/257,545M; payments volume $13.9 trillion; 329 billion Visa-branded transactions; one reportable segment — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. 6 November 2025 · source ↗
  3. ReportedIts main driver is payments volume, which was $13.9 trillion in fiscal 2025.
    Visa Form 10-K FY2025 - net revenue by line 2023-2025: service $14,826M/$16,114M/$17,539M, data processing $16,007M/$17,714M/$19,993M, international transaction $11,638M/$12,665M/$14,166M, other $2,479M/$3,197M/$4,053M, client incentives ($12,297M)/($13,764M)/($15,751M), net revenue $32,653M/$35,926M/$40,000M; line definitions; FY2025 drivers: service +9% on 7% payments volume growth, pricing and card benefits; data processing +13% on 10% more processed transactions and pricing; international transaction +12% on 13% cross-border volume growth and currency volatility; other +27% on advisory and other services and pricing; processed transactions 212,579M/233,758M/257,545M; payments volume $13.9 trillion; 329 billion Visa-branded transactions; one reportable segment — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. 6 November 2025 · source ↗
  4. Moat Explorer calcService revenue was about 12.6 basis points of payments volume in fiscal 2025.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Visa's Forms 10-K FY2020 and FY2025 and the Q3 FY2026 10-Q: line shares of gross revenue, compound growth rates, revenue per processed transaction and per dollar of payments volume — FY2018 to Q3 FY2026 · publ. 2026-09-23 · source ↗
  5. ReportedIt was $8,918 million in fiscal 2018 and rose only 1% in the pandemic year, to $9,804 million in fiscal 2020.
    Visa Form 10-K FY2020 - net revenues by line 2018-2020: service $8,918M/$9,700M/$9,804M, data processing $9,027M/$10,333M/$10,975M, international transaction $7,211M/$7,804M/$6,299M, other $944M/$1,313M/$1,432M; international transaction revenues fell 19% on a 23% decline in nominal cross-border volumes, excluding transactions within Europe, as COVID-19 spread — FY2018-FY2020 · publ. 19 November 2020 · source ↗
  6. Moat Explorer calcFrom 2018 to 2025 it compounded at 10.1% a year.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Visa's Forms 10-K FY2020 and FY2025 and the Q3 FY2026 10-Q: line shares of gross revenue, compound growth rates, revenue per processed transaction and per dollar of payments volume — FY2018 to Q3 FY2026 · publ. 2026-09-23 · source ↗
  7. ReportedIn fiscal 2025 it grew 9% on 7% more nominal payments volume, select pricing modifications and card benefits.
    Visa Form 10-K FY2025 - net revenue by line 2023-2025: service $14,826M/$16,114M/$17,539M, data processing $16,007M/$17,714M/$19,993M, international transaction $11,638M/$12,665M/$14,166M, other $2,479M/$3,197M/$4,053M, client incentives ($12,297M)/($13,764M)/($15,751M), net revenue $32,653M/$35,926M/$40,000M; line definitions; FY2025 drivers: service +9% on 7% payments volume growth, pricing and card benefits; data processing +13% on 10% more processed transactions and pricing; international transaction +12% on 13% cross-border volume growth and currency volatility; other +27% on advisory and other services and pricing; processed transactions 212,579M/233,758M/257,545M; payments volume $13.9 trillion; 329 billion Visa-branded transactions; one reportable segment — FY2023-FY2025 · publ. 6 November 2025 · source ↗
  8. ReportedIn the June 2026 quarter it grew 14% to $4,922 million, on 11% more payments volume, pricing and card benefits.
    Visa Form 10-Q, quarter to 30 June 2026 - service $4,922M against $4,330M, data processing $6,042M against $5,153M, international transaction $3,853M against $3,633M, other $1,496M against $1,028M; nine months $14,663M, $17,129M, $11,136M and $4,030M against $12,937M, $14,599M, $10,366M and $2,877M; drivers: payments volume +11%, processed transactions +10%, cross-border volume +14% excluding Europe partly offset by lower currency volatility, growth in Advisory and Other Services, select pricing modifications; processed transactions 71,662M — Q3 FY2026 · publ. 29 July 2026 · source ↗
  9. ReportedThe number that would change the view is service revenue growth against payments volume growth, 14% against 11% in the June 2026 quarter.
    Visa Form 10-Q, quarter to 30 June 2026 - service $4,922M against $4,330M, data processing $6,042M against $5,153M, international transaction $3,853M against $3,633M, other $1,496M against $1,028M; nine months $14,663M, $17,129M, $11,136M and $4,030M against $12,937M, $14,599M, $10,366M and $2,877M; drivers: payments volume +11%, processed transactions +10%, cross-border volume +14% excluding Europe partly offset by lower currency volatility, growth in Advisory and Other Services, select pricing modifications; processed transactions 71,662M — Q3 FY2026 · publ. 29 July 2026 · source ↗
  10. Moat Explorer calcThe number that would change the view is service revenue growth against payments volume growth, 14% against 11% in the June 2026 quarter.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Visa's Forms 10-K FY2020 and FY2025 and the Q3 FY2026 10-Q: line shares of gross revenue, compound growth rates, revenue per processed transaction and per dollar of payments volume — FY2018 to Q3 FY2026 · publ. 2026-09-23 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026