Mizuho: Earnings From Major Banks Driven by Mobile Payments

Recently, Mizuho dropped word our way about new earnings reports for Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo. For anyone who follows bank stocks, the word is actually fairly positive. For those who also follow mobile payments operations, the news is doubly positive, as Mizuho’s report illustrates what kind of value mobile payments can have on an operation when put to work therein.

Citigroup, for example, saw its credit card sales volume jump to 8.6 percent year-over-year. In the second quarter, that was 7.3 percent year-over-year, which represents a big jump. Considering how little reason there is to shop in the third quarter, this is indeed noteworthy. Given that Citigroup is also Mastercard’s largest issuing customer, reports note, this is further boost to the payment card market.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan had big results as well. Credit card sales volume hit 11.6 percent in the third quarter year-over-year, up from 11 percent in the second quarter. It’s also the eighth consecutive quarter—two solid years—of at least 11 percent growth. This is despite huge gains in previous quarters as well; the third quarter of 2017 saw 13.3 percent gain year-over-year. Card volume growth in merchant acquisitions was up to 14 percent year-over-year versus 12.4 percent in the second quarter.

Finally, even beleaguered Wells Fargo saw gains. Credit card spending was up 6.1 percent year-over-year, against 6.2 percent in the second quarter. Wells Fargo is actually the top issuer of debit cards in the United States, as measured by purchase volume.

Considering that people are having a very tough time trusting Wells Fargo any farther than they can throw it these days, that’s no mean feat. Everybody’s posting hefty gains on card usage, a development which illustrates the impact that mobile payments technology is having in the field. Given that these three banks have a combined total of 65.4 million mobile users—which itself is up 10.2 percent year-over-year—that’s a lot of people to work with. Throw in the fact that all three are Zelle operators and you’ve got a recipe for gains.

Mobile payments are coming into their own on several fronts. While we’ve still got quite a ways to go before it’s completely mainstream, the numbers from some of the biggest banks suggest that we’ve made a lot of progress.