Strength in global consumer spending along with double-digit cross-border gains and traction in B2B payments marked third-quarter Mastercard results released Tuesday Oct 30 as management eyes digital checkout and other high-tech payments initiatives in the US and beyond In terms of headline numbers Mastercards revenues of 39 billion up more than 147 percent year on year edged analysts estimates slightly though management noted that revenue on a currency-neutral basis and excluding items was up 17 percent Earnings of 182 topped estimates of 168 Results by the Double Digits The company said that gross dollar volume which is the total dollar volume of transactions processed reached 14 trillion gaining 13 percent Breaking that down a bit debit and prepaid transactions stood at 720 billion up from 642 billion last year Credit transactions were 748 billion in the quarter which was up from 705 billion last year Regionally speaking the United States saw 9 percent growth year on year to 442 billion in gross dollar volume while the rest of the world saw faster growth at 15 percent to just over 1 trillion Switched transactions were up 16 percent adjusted for the Venezuelan deconsolidation at 188 billion transactions or up 117 percent on a reported basis Cards at the end of the quarter stood at 24 billion up from last years 23 billion Cross-border dollar volume fees were 13 billion up 18 percent on a currency-neutral basis Transaction processing fees were 19 billion up 17 percent The Macro Picture In remarks during the conference call following the release and in terms of the bigger macroeconomic picture CEO Ajay Banga stated that we continue to see solid overall growth although just like others we are keeping an eye out for potential impacts related to fiscal stimulus reductions rising interest rates and possibly increased trade barriers which could slow global economic growth In addition we are monitoring the impact of a stronger US dollar on cross-border flows and the economic weakness in some emerging market countries Conditions in the US remain stable and Banga said the firm estimated that retail sales were strong in the third quarter up more than 5 percent excluding automobile and gas-related activity In response to analyst questions reflecting on trends into the current quarter in terms of macro signs Banga said that through the three weeks ending Oct 21 youll find that consumer spending remains kind of robust or even a little better in some cases Touching on cross-border activity CFO Martina Hund-Mejean stated that cross border has continued to be very strong though she noted that with inbound activity into the US on the heels of the strengthening dollar the growth rate has been declining versus what we saw in 2Q Digital Efforts and B2B Via Mastercard Track With a specific nod to digital efforts the CEO recounted that last week the company was linked with FinTech Grab a digital wallet provider and ridesharing service in Southeast Asia As of the announcement of the partnership the app had been downloaded onto more than 110 million mobile devices in the region Banga also said that on the B2B front we are really excited about the launch of Mastercard Track which is billed as a global trade platform one that was developed in collaboration with Microsoft embracing 150 million firms across 75 countries Track basically solves key challenges in the procure-to-pay process including managing supply chain risk and creating more transparency in the B2B payments process he told analysts Were going to deploy the platform through a phased rollout The first phase is focused on helping corporations with the cumbersome process of compliance screening of new and existing suppliers Hund-Mejean said of B2B transactions we said in the past that it is about 11 percent of our total volume in this point in time and that it is growing in the mid to high teens depending on how you look at it The opportunity worldwide is 120 trillion she added Banga recounted the debut earlier this month of Mastercard Bill Pay Exchange as part of faster payments endeavors enabling US consumers to view manage and pay bills instantly from bank accounts done in tandem with a community of more than 100 000 billers and built on the firms existing bill pay network SRC Too In efforts to boost the consumer experience in eCommerce Banga pointed to the expectation that the firm will begin the rollout of SRC a push toward a standardized secure experience at the point of sale during the second half of next year Im pretty confident that the issuing and acquiring and merchant community will see a lot of value out of SRC he told analysts stating that its just harder for a merchant or an issuing bank or an acquiring bank to have to handle multiple checkout options for the purposes of digital and online purchases And so both of those are appealing to the entire community and that appeal is what were hearing back from them As for a timeframe he stated that its going to be a run Its not going to be something thats going to end in a 100-yard dash Weve got to get it out get the standards get all the work done to get it launched out there get issuing acquiring and merchant systems to accept these new standards work with them and then allow us to roll that out over three four years he told analysts