(Reuters) – Card company Mastercard Inc reported a fall in first-quarter profit on Thursday, as higher personnel costs overshadowed a surge in customer transaction volumes.
Financial firms have been racing to cut costs in recent months as the pandemic driven boost to spending from pent-up demand ebbs in the face of a tough economy. Rising expenses have also prompted job cuts across Wall Street in recent months.
Total operating expenses on an adjusted basis rose 10% to $2.4 billion in the first quarter ended March.
Still, gross dollar volumes, a metric that represents the total dollar value of all transactions processed by Mastercard, rose 15% on a local currency basis to $2.1 trillion as consumer spending remained resilient.
Net revenue rose 11% to $5.7 billion.
The U.S. card firm’s profit fell to $2.4 billion, or $2.47 per share, compared with $2.6 billion, or $2.68 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Siddarth S and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
