Mastercard Inc

NYSE:MA

Mastercard is a global payments network. It does not usually lend money to shoppers itself or make the physical card; instead, it connects banks, merchants, and consumers so card payments can move securely from one side to the other. When you tap, swipe, or buy online with a Mastercard-branded card, its network helps authorize and route the transaction. The company makes money mainly by charging fees tied to payment activity and by selling services around those payments, such as fraud prevention, data tools, and cross-border transaction processing. Its main customers are banks and other financial institutions that issue cards, along with merchants and payment processors that accept them. Consumers use the cards, but the banks and merchants are the direct business customers. Mastercard sits in the middle of the card payments system, which gives it a very specific role: it earns from the movement of money rather than from lending or holding large retail deposits. That makes its business tied to everyday consumer spending, e-commerce, travel, and business payments across many countries and currencies.