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CEO Bruce Lowthers stated that the majority of the back-half revenue is already sold and in implementation, providing high visibility. He cited improving attrition, a strong pipeline, and new product rollouts as key drivers. CFO John Crawford added this would also drive margin expansion. Regarding e-commerce, Lowthers confirmed strong growth exceeding 30%, with non-iGaming verticals showing mid-teen growth in Q2.

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CFO John Crawford and Executive Kirsten Nielsen clarified that e-commerce represents about a quarter of the Merchant segment's revenue, with iGaming constituting about half of that. CEO Bruce Lowthers explained that new partnerships, like the one with Tilled, open up new total addressable markets (TAM) such as the PayFac space. He emphasized that these partnerships are a critical component of the growth strategy, aiming to drive over 10% of revenue from products released in the last three years.

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CEO Thomas Warsop explained that ACI is well-prepared for digital currencies, sitting in the middle of the payments infrastructure for banks and merchants, and noted that stablecoins could simplify cross-border real-time payments. CFO Robert Leibrock attributed the Biller segment's strong 16% Q2 growth to success in government and consumer finance markets. He indicated that while that specific growth rate may not be sustained, the segment will remain strong, contributing to the raised full-year guidance.

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CEO Thomas Warsop stated that customer conversations show no negative impact from macro uncertainty and may even create positive momentum for modernization projects like Connetic. He added that ACI's software already facilitates trillions in cross-border payments (e.g., SWIFT) and is ready for cross-border real-time payments, pending regulatory approvals. While ACI can handle crypto and stablecoins, he noted current volumes are very small and it remains a future opportunity.

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CEO Thomas Warsop explained the reorganization aims to increase accountability, simplify operations, and improve customer experience, citing the success of this model in the Biller segment. He anticipates efficiency gains from eliminating duplicative efforts. CFO Scott Behrens stated that long-term growth targets remain in the high single-digits and that a conscious effort to sign deals earlier will shift more revenue into the first half of 2025, targeting approximately 45% versus 43% in 2024.

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President and CEO Thomas Warsop explained that growth is driven by customers investing heavily and viewing ACI as a strategic partner for technology and efficiency, a shift from purely renewal-focused talks. He noted that accelerating renewals frees up the sales team to focus entirely on new business for 2025 and beyond. CFO Scott Behrens added that this strategy helps pull next year's pipeline forward, de-risking future quarters and supporting long-term growth goals.

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CFO Peter Walker and CEO Ronald Clarke indicated that Corporate Payments performance was broadly consistent, with payables being steady and cross-border having a stronger April and slightly softer June. For the guidance change, Clarke provided a simple framework: for the second half, think of a 1% positive impact from macro/FX and a 1% negative impact from lodging, with the net result being a modest print revenue increase but little earnings change due to the cost side of FX.

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CFO Peter Walker and CEO Ronald Clarke noted that Corporate Payments performance was steady, with cross-border having a stronger April and slightly softer June, while payables were consistent. Clarke clarified the guidance change: for the second half, a 1% positive impact from macro/FX is offset by a 1% negative impact from lodging weakness. He stressed that the core Vehicle and Corporate Payments businesses, representing 85% of the company, are tracking to plan.

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CEO John Caplan stated that while the revenue mix from China has not significantly shifted yet, Payoneer is actively helping sellers globalize. He noted that the strategic shift towards larger, multi-entity B2B customers with higher retention is driving ICP quality, with volume from 10k+ ICPs growing 20%. He characterized quarterly ICP growth as potentially 'lumpy' based on portfolio mix.

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CFO Bea Ordonez stated that while the China seller base is diverse, larger sellers with branded goods and pricing power are expected to be more resilient to tariffs. CEO John Caplan added that these larger sellers are actively working with Payoneer to expand into new markets like Europe and Latin America. He emphasized that the new payment license in China positions Payoneer to capture this long-term diversification trend and help Chinese merchants sell to the rest of the world.

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CEO John Caplan attributed ARPU growth to acquiring higher-value customers, pricing, and cross-selling. CFO Bea Ordonez noted the intra-network pricing pilot is ongoing. For 2025, she expects float income to decline due to lower rates but expressed confidence in achieving the mid-20s EBITDA margin target through core growth and cost discipline, supported by hedging strategies.

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CFO James Kehoe quantified the bad debt charge at approximately $8 million. He explained that the implied Q4 margin expansion of nearly 200 basis points is highly achievable because FIS is lapping a $33 million charge from the prior year, which accounts for 100 bps of the improvement, with the remainder driven by executed cost-saving initiatives.

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CFO Sachin Mehra declined to provide long-term guidance but emphasized the high diversification of the cross-border portfolio, with no single corridor representing more than 3% of volume. He noted the mix is roughly 60% travel and 40% non-travel, with the latter growing strongly. He stressed that the business continues to perform well and grow faster than overall GDV, supported by its diversified nature.

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CFO Sachin Mehra responded that the base case assumes consumer spending remains strong. Key factors factored into the guidance include the lapping of significant 2024 client wins and pricing actions, as well as the normalization of rebates and incentives after a low Q1. He noted that while FX volatility is hard to predict, their best estimate is incorporated into the guidance range.

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CFO Sachin Mehra clarified that the gap is partly due to rounding but is primarily driven by mix. He explained that domestic assessments revenue, by definition, excludes cross-border activity. In contrast, the overall GDV metric includes fast-growing cross-border volumes. When cross-border outgrows domestic, it lifts the total GDV growth rate relative to the domestic assessments growth rate.

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Chief Financial Officer Sachin Mehra advised that while the outlook is strong, several factors will create difficult comparisons for 2025. These include the lapping of the 2024 leap year, the full-year impact of major portfolio wins from 2024 (like Citizens and Wells Fargo), and the anniversary of certain pricing actions.

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CFO Asha Bakshani attributed the Q1 beat to strong execution of their strategy. She explained that the full-year guidance was maintained because the company is still in the early stages of its transformation, with less than half of its new sales reps fully ramped. She confirmed there were no one-time benefits in Q1 and stated that business trends in July remained stable and consistent with the first quarter.

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CFO Asha Bakshani explained that the guided acceleration is driven by investments in the go-to-market strategy, specifically the ramping of 150 new outbound sales reps, and a 35% increase in R&D spending to fuel product innovation and upsell opportunities. She noted the guidance conservatively assumes the macro softness seen in Q4 will persist, despite recent stabilization. Regarding payments, she confirmed penetration reached 40% in April and is expected to trend upward but declined to provide a specific target due to macro uncertainty.

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President JD Saint-Martin noted that outbound-focused reps constitute 19% of the quota-carrying team, with plans to increase this to 25% by year-end, citing strong unit economics. CFO Asha Bakshani explained that the GTV growth was driven by easing declines in retail same-store sales and over 20% GTV growth from flagship products, which are becoming a larger portion of the customer base.

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CFO Asha Bakshani confirmed a back-half acceleration in software revenue, with contributions from account manager pivots and pricing initiatives being 'pretty similar.' President JD Saint-Martin added that the focus on outbound sales for flagship products, which are growing GTV at 24%, gives them confidence in accelerating high-GTV location growth and overall GTV.

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CFO Chris Suh attributed the dynamic to three factors: high currency volatility, a hedging loss that partially offset favorable FX movements, and corridor mix. He confirmed that the Canada-to-U.S. corridor, which is a higher-yielding one, was a key variable impacting the overall mix.

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CFO Chris Suh acknowledged the factors, explaining that while higher currency volatility was a tailwind, it was offset by hedging losses (part of a strategy to mitigate cash flow impacts) and a negative mix shift. He specified that the U.S. inbound corridor, which is higher-yielding, was impacted by lower volume from Canada, affecting the overall revenue mix.

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CFO Chris Suh confirmed the key drivers were higher currency volatility, which was partially offset by hedging losses and an unfavorable geographic mix. He specifically noted that slowing volume in the high-yielding Canada-to-U.S. corridor impacted the overall yield. However, he emphasized that revenue growth still outpaced volume growth across all major categories.

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CEO Ryan McInerney confirmed the largest VAS component is for on-network Visa transactions, which drives yield. However, he emphasized the significant progress and large addressable market for services on non-Visa transactions via platforms like CyberSource and Pismo, signaling it as a key growth area.

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President, CEO & Director Alex Chriss provided a direct response, stating that PayPal is a strong supporter of Open Banking and has analyzed the situation thoroughly. He concluded that the changes are 'immaterial' to the business and that PayPal will not be impacted.

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CFO Jamie Miller confirmed that Venmo was a growing contributor to transaction margin dollar growth in 2024 and will continue to increase its impact in 2025. She highlighted strong TPV growth in monetized areas like debit card (up 40%) and Pay with Venmo (up 50%), but deferred providing a specific TM dollar figure, stating more details would be shared at the upcoming Investor Day.

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CFO Jamie Miller explained that the take rate was impacted by several factors. While improved Braintree margins had a positive effect, this was offset by faster growth from large enterprises, which have inherently lower take rates than SMBs, as well as some impact from FX and the payouts business. CEO Alex Chriss added that while he is pleased with the innovation in the SMB product (PayPal Complete Payments), penetrating the long tail of millions of merchants takes time compared to a handful of large enterprise deals.

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CEO Melissa Smith reiterated that the board conducts regular, objective reviews of the business portfolio with external advisors. CFO Jagtar Narula stated Corporate Payments total volume grew 3%, driven by travel. Melissa Smith clarified that recent work with a large OTA was about normalizing spend patterns for predictability, not changing wallet share.

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CEO Cameron Bready attributed the one-point sequential slowdown in merchant growth to macro softness and weather events in September. He expects Q4 to be 'a little bit better' but not significantly so. On the Capital One-Discover merger, Bready highlighted the long-standing partnership and noted that while it's premature to include in the outlook, he views the potential combination as a long-term positive for their relationship.

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