Top 20 global payment companies’ revenue rises 8% in 2025 as scale still wins: GlobalData
Key takeaways
- Murthy Grandhi, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, said: “American Express (AmEx) sits atop the leaderboard with an 8.4% rise in revenue to $77.7b.
- PayPal s 4.3% growth, meanwhile, is the most consequential underperformance in the sector.
- The real story, however, lies among the mid-tier challengers.
Top 20 global payment companies’ revenue rises 8% in 2025 as scale still wins: Global Data Douglas Blakey Wed, June 3, 2026 at 5:05 PM GMT+7 4 min read AXP DATA.L MA V The global payments industry delivered another year of expansion in 2025, with network operators benefiting from international commerce and payment volume growth even as transaction processors faced slower merchant spending and intensifying competition. The world s 20 largest listed payment companies generated a combined revenue base of $280bn in 2025, with growth increasingly concentrated among firms exposed to cross-border transactions, digital commerce, and software-integrated payments, according to GlobalData, publishers of EPI.
Murthy Grandhi, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, said: “American Express (AmEx) sits atop the leaderboard with an 8.4% rise in revenue to $77.7b. Visa ($40bn, +11.3%) and Mastercard ($32.8bn, +16.4%) are growing faster than AmEx despite processing trillions in transactions through their network rails. Mastercard s growth reflects a deliberate pivot into value-added services: data analytics, cybersecurity solutions, and open banking APIs that now account for a growing share of revenue. The card business is mature; the data business is not.”
PayPal s 4.3% growth, meanwhile, is the most consequential underperformance in the sector. The company processes over $1.5tn in payment volume annually, yet revenue barely tracks inflation. The problem is structural: PayPal remains heavily exposed to e-commerce checkout, a market where competition from Apple Pay, Shop Pay, and card-linked offers has intensified. Management s pivot toward advertising and BNPL (buy now, pay later) integrations has yet to move the needle materially.