VISA Releases Stellar Results
VISA Inc. released stellar results for its third quarter, reporting that net income leaped 73% to US$729M, up from US$422M a year ago. Due to the nature of Visa’s business (it makes its riches off transaction fees rather than lending), the company remained relatively isolated from an unattractive, default-ridden credit market.
Visa, as the world’s largest electronic payments network, also benefited from a consumer switch-away from cash and cheques towards debt, credit and charge cards. Visa’s share price jumped 0.64% yesterday to close at US$67.21.
Advanta Suspends Nearly 1 Million Client Accounts
It seems like the rough waters are intensifying for Advanta Corp, the credit card company that was forced to suspend nearly a million client accounts after defaults rose to 20% in the first quarter of 2009. The lender said today that defaults rose by over 100% to 56.95% in June from May.
Just over a week ago, it announced that it would be laying off half of its workforce across all departments, after posting three-straight quarterly losses. Advanta is set to release its second quarter results this week.