Do we like them?

Do we like Mastercard?

Global card payments network (not a lender) that processes card transactions and sells payment tech; based in Purchase, New York.

Our score: 4 out of 10. A useful, well-run payments network, but it is half of a dominant duopoly. It has repeated competition fines and spends heavily to fight swipe-fee reform. We'd back it cautiously at best.

Mastercard is a payments network. It doesn't lend to you. It connects your bank, the shop and the shop's bank, and takes a cut. Michael Miebach joined in 2010 and has been CEO since January 2021, after running its Middle East and Africa business and then serving as chief product officer and president.

The big drama is swipe fees. Merchants sued Visa and Mastercard over inflated card fees for more than 20 years. A 2019 settlement was worth about $5.54bn. A federal judge approved a newer deal in June 2026 that trims some fees and gives merchants more freedom to surcharge. Some big retailers, Walmart among them, objected.

Regulators have also stepped in. The European Commission fined it about $648m in 2019 over cross-border fees. In the UK, the Payment Systems Regulator fined it £31.56m in 2022 for a prepaid-card cartel aimed at vulnerable benefit recipients. The regulator said all parties settled and admitted breaking the law.

It also fights hard in Washington. Mastercard has opposed the Credit Card Competition Act, which would make big issuers offer a network other than Visa or Mastercard. Demand Progress tallied about $165m in lobbying against the bill since 2023 by the industry, Mastercard included. The bill's backers accuse the two firms of a duopoly.

On the plus side, it was the first in payments to get its emissions targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. It also runs financial-inclusion programmes. We'd call it a competent, mixed-record company: a good product with competition problems, so a cautious 4.