Mastercard slowdowns as overseas spending halts
Mastercard Inc. reports a slowdown in the growth of overseas spending on its cards in recent weeks as the contagious omicron variant disrupts travel industry adding fresh rounds of lock-downs.
Recovery in cross-border travel was progressing well prior to omicron, and ‘we expect the recovery in international travel to resume as the surge passes’ CFO Sachin Mehra said on a conference call with analysts.
Before omicron started to surge worldwide, Mastercard and Visa Inc. we’re benefiting as the economies around the world slowly reopened and consumers got back to traveling, dining and shopping.
*Shares of MasterCard are up 10% in the past 12 months
