NEW YORK, Feb 20, 2026, 15:44 (EST) — Regular session on tap.
- Visa shares picked up roughly 0.8% during afternoon hours.
- Visa reached an agreement to acquire Argentina-based payments firms Prisma and Newpay from Advent.
- Visa’s proposed acquisition of Prosa hit a wall after Mexico’s antitrust regulator shot it down, according to Bloomberg News.
Visa Inc climbed $2.49 to $321.42, up 0.8%, late Friday afternoon.
Visa is set to acquire Argentina’s Prisma Medios de Pago and Newpay from Advent International, locking in issuer processing, real-time payments, and ATM capabilities in the region. CEO Ryan McInerney described the deal as “an important step” for Visa’s operations in Argentina. Gabriela Renaudo, who runs the local business, said it’s expected to boost digital payments adoption. The company also said the merger of the two platforms will allow faster launches for tools like tokenization—where a digital token stands in for a card number—and biometric authentication. Visa is aiming to wrap up the transaction in its fiscal second quarter. (Visa Investor Relations)
Regulatory pressure resurfaced Friday, with Bloomberg News saying Mexico’s National Antitrust Commission shot down Visa’s proposed acquisition of a 51% stake in payment processor Prosa—an agreement first unveiled in December 2023. (Bloomberg Law)
Handling upwards of 6 billion transactions annually for Argentina’s top banks, Prisma came together in 2014 after Visa Argentina and the Banelco network merged. Advent picked up a controlling stake in 2019, valuing the company at $1.42 billion, as Argentina sought to stir more competition in payments. Since then, the business has been carved into three arms: Prisma, Newpay, and the merchant acquirer Payway. (Reuters)
Mastercard shares gained roughly 1.1%, while American Express rose 0.7%, as payment stocks logged broad gains during the session.
Broader markets got a jolt from a Supreme Court ruling that knocked out tariffs put in place using emergency authority. Investors, meanwhile, picked through sluggish growth numbers and persistent inflation that’s yet to let up. (Reuters)
The Argentina deal? No price out yet, and it’s not past the closing hoops. Over in Mexico, that canceled move shows just how fast expansion plans can stall. Should approvals drag on—or if consumers start pulling back as rates stay elevated—impatience among traders could flare fast.
Traders now turn their attention to the upcoming U.S. Personal Income and Outlays data, set for release March 13. The report carries the PCE inflation metric, a key input for Federal Reserve policy bets. (bea.gov)
