New York, February 19, 2026, 14:50 EST — Regular session
- Visa shares down about 0.9% in afternoon trade; Mastercard and AmEx also lower
- Visa agreed to buy Argentina payment platforms Prisma and Newpay from Advent; terms were not disclosed
- Focus turns to deal approvals and Friday’s U.S. inflation data
Visa Inc shares fell about 0.9% to $317.35 on Thursday, underperforming the headline around a deal to expand its footprint in Argentina. Mastercard was down about 2.1% and American Express slid roughly 1.6% in the same session.
Visa said it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Prisma Medios de Pago and Newpay in Argentina from private equity firm Advent International, a move that pulls key local infrastructure closer to the card network. The assets include issuer processing — the back-end systems banks use to authorize and clear card payments — as well as real-time payments, ATM and bill-pay rails, the company said. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney called it “an important step for Visa in Argentina.” (Visa)
The timing matters because payment stocks have been trading tightly to the rate outlook and to any read-through on consumer spending, and investors are still sensitive to policy swings that can hit the broader financial sector. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January meeting showed officials split on the path ahead, with some still worried about inflation while others leaned toward cuts if price pressures cool. (Reuters)
Prisma is one of Argentina’s biggest card-issuing platforms and processes more than six billion transactions a year for major banks, according to a Reuters report on the deal. Advent bought into Prisma in 2019 at a $1.42 billion valuation as Argentina pushed for more competition in payments, Reuters said. (Reuters)
Advent said it would retain Payway, the merchant acquiring business that was separated from the group, while selling Prisma and Newpay to Visa. “We believe Visa is well positioned,” Advent managing partner Juan Pablo Zucchini said in the release, pointing to continued development for the remaining business. (Business Wire)
Visa said it expects the combination to speed deployment of tools such as tokenization — which replaces a card number with a unique digital token — plus biometric checks and “intelligent risk” systems that flag suspicious activity faster. It also flagged “agentic commerce,” a push toward more automated checkout and payments. (Visa)
But the companies did not disclose the price, leaving investors to fill in the math on returns and integration costs. The transaction is subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and Visa will need to keep service levels steady while it folds in systems that sit at the center of day-to-day payments. (Payments Dive)
In the background, U.S. stocks were softer on Thursday as investors weighed mixed economic signals and guidance from big retailers, while energy markets responded to heightened geopolitical tension. “Today (investors are) weighing… what Walmart’s earnings are saying in terms of the consumer,” Chuck Carlson, CEO at Horizon Investment Services, told Reuters. (Reuters)
For Visa and its peers, the next near-term catalyst is Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation report, the Fed’s preferred gauge, for clues on how tight policy may stay into mid-year. Deal watchers will also look for any timetable updates as Visa works toward closing in its fiscal second quarter. (Reuters)
