There are advertising slogans that stick because they fit the product very well and convey it well.

In the 1990s there were two in the financial sector.

"There are things that cannot be bought.

For everything else there is Mastercard” and “Visa.

I take my liberty.” Both slogans were accompanied by corresponding advertising videos that clearly conveyed the message: As a consumer, you can afford everything (or a lot) with a credit card.

The world pays with plastic money

At that time, a credit card was not as common a means of payment as the plastic card is today.

The corona pandemic in particular has massively changed the payment behavior of consumers all over the world.

According to the Deutsche Bundesbank, 30 percent of all payments recorded in Germany at the till, during leisure time, in online trading and for other payment reasons were made with a card.

In the payment behavior study from 2017, on the other hand, the value was 9 percentage points lower.

The major credit card providers Mastercard and Visa are benefiting from this trend, not only in Germany, of course.

The two big names in the industry are active all over the world.

Above all, Mastercard and Visa have always been able to rely on the buying mood of Americans.

However, the two companies also have to ensure that people travel a lot and sometimes pay with plastic money.

In the course of the Corona crisis, this area in particular was hit.

However, the latest quarterly reports from both companies show that travel and tourism activity is recovering, even if the Omicron Covid-19 variant raises some questions.

reached pre-crisis level again

According to Mastercard boss Michael Miebach, the group had already reached the pre-crisis level in cross-border payments in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Between October and December, these increased by a currency-adjusted 53 percent year-on-year.

Across the group, revenue increased by 28 percent to $5.2 billion.

However, at the end of the year and beginning of January 2022, Omikron had a negative impact on cross-border payments.

However, Mastercard believes that this effect should not last long.

Miebach believes that international tourism should have reached its pre-crisis levels by the end of this year.

A similar picture emerged when looking at the latest quarterly results from competitor Visa.

In the December quarter, it posted a 24 percent increase in revenue to $7.1 billion, while net income increased 27 percent to $4.0 billion.

Management attributed this positive development not only to the recovery in cross-border payments, but also to growth in e-commerce and the general economic recovery.

Similar to rival Mastercard, Visa believes that the current spike in cases should not derail the economic recovery.

Long live the e-commerce boom

However, Covid-19 and global travel activity are not the only issues on which Visa, Mastercard and other industry representatives are concerned.

There is plenty of important homework for the industry to do.

Digitization would be high on the list.

She's in full swing.

Even if cash is not known to be a corona carrier, the willingness of many people to make cashless payments during the pandemic is likely to have increased.

Studies such as those by the industry association Bitkom prove this.

That is why Mastercard, Visa & Co are now dealing with more and more areas outside of the classic credit card business, such as so-called issuing or acquiring.