Data processingWide moat

Visa (V) — moat facet

Under eight cents a transaction on 257.5 billion transactions: the largest line and the hardest to undercut.

Data processing is Visa's largest line, and the one nearest to what the network physically does. It brought in $19,993 million in fiscal 2025, against $17,714 million in 2024 and $16,007 million in 2023.1

Data processing revenue ($bn)$9.03bnFY2018$10.33bnFY2019$10.98bnFY2020$16.01bnFY2023$17.71bnFY2024$19.99bnFY2025Visa Forms 10-K FY2020 and FY2025; FY2021-22 not shown
Up in every year shown, including 2020, when cross-border revenue fell 19%.

What is inside the line is the fee for authorisation, clearing and settlement, plus value-added services related to acceptance, risk and security, network access and maintenance.2 It is paid per transaction, and processed transactions are its main driver: 257.5 billion in fiscal 2025, up 10%.3

That makes the unit price easy to compute. Data processing revenue came to about 7.8 cents per processed transaction in fiscal 2025.4 A competing processor has very little to undercut, which the page Undercutting Three Cents Is Not a Business takes further.

The history is steady. The line was $9,027 million in fiscal 2018 and grew in every year shown, including the pandemic year, when it rose 6% while international transaction revenue fell 19%.5 From 2018 to 2025 it compounded at 12.0% a year, the fastest of the three core lines.6

The filings attribute the growth to transactions and to price. In fiscal 2025 it grew 13% on 10% more processed transactions and select pricing modifications.7 In the June 2026 quarter it grew 17% to $6,042 million, on 10% more transactions, pricing, growth in value-added services and a higher cross-border mix.8

Processing is also where the network loses traffic. Of 329 billion Visa-branded transactions in fiscal 2025, Visa processed 257.5 billion, so about one in five ran on another processor, which is the subject of the root threat on state-built rails.9

This is a wide moat: the processor for most of the transactions carrying its own brand, priced at a few cents each. The figure to follow is revenue per processed transaction, about 8.4 cents in the June 2026 quarter.10 A fall with processed transactions still rising would mean the pricing modifications have stopped working.

Moat trajectory: Widening

Up 17% in the June 2026 quarter on 10% more transactions, with revenue per transaction rising to about 8.4 cents.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
Data processing revenue per processed transaction, latest quarter
About 8.4 cents in Q3 FY2026, from 7.8 cents for FY2025

A fall with processed transactions still rising would mean the pricing modifications have stopped working.

How it's calculated: 6,042 / 71,662 for the quarter; 19,993 / 257,545 for FY2025.
Source: Visa Form 10-Q, Q3 FY2026 (Moat Explorer calc) ↗
References
  1. ReportedIt brought in $19,993 million in fiscal 2025, against $17,714 million in 2024 and $16,007 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 the fee for authorisation, clearing and settlement, plus value-added services related to acceptance, risk and security, network access and maintenance.
    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. ReportedIt is paid per transaction, and processed transactions are its main driver: 257.5 billion in fiscal 2025, up 10%.
    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 calcData processing revenue came to about 7.8 cents per processed transaction 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. ReportedThe line was $9,027 million in fiscal 2018 and grew in every year shown, including the pandemic year, when it rose 6% while international transaction revenue fell 19%.
    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 12.0% a year, the fastest of the three core lines.
    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 13% on 10% more processed transactions and select pricing modifications.
    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 17% to $6,042 million, on 10% more transactions, pricing, growth in value-added services and a higher cross-border mix.
    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. ReportedOf 329 billion Visa-branded transactions in fiscal 2025, Visa processed 257.5 billion, so about one in five ran on another processor, which is the subject of the root threat on state-built rails.
    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 ↗
  10. Moat Explorer calcThe figure to follow is revenue per processed transaction, about 8.4 cents 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