This morning, we hosted our quarterly conference call for the financial community. In sharing our results for the first quarter, we reported net income growth of 17 percent, or 24 percent adjusted for currency.

Net revenue growth of 3 percent – or 8 percent after adjusting for currency – was primarily driven by double-digit cross-border volume, domestic gross dollar volume and processed transactions.

And, earnings per share growth continue to be strong at 22 percent, or 29 percent adjusted for currency.  Our continued revenue momentum, good cost controls and executing on our tax strategies all played a role in this effort.

But, the numbers only tell part of the story. During our call, Ajay and I highlighted a few of the areas that truly bring our results to life:

Relationships – During the quarter, we signed a number of new deals.  Two of these – Citi and Itau – build on long-standing relationships with important financial institutions with an eye toward the next decade or more. Our efforts in the commercial card space continue to grow and strengthen, as seen in new agreements with Barclaycard in the UK and Bank of Ireland.

Innovation – Our MasterPass digital platform continues to expand and grow across the globe. The efforts of our team have added a new market – Korea – and more than doubled the number of merchants across the world where the platform is accepted. And, we continue to bring our technology to mobile payment programs you’ve likely heard of or used, from brand name programs to financial inclusion initiatives.

For us, innovation isn’t just about the products our customers and cardholders use; it’s also about what stands behind those products. While we didn’t specifically comment on it during the call, throughout the quarter we delivered on our commitment to grow and reinforce our talent and customer offerings in this area. A few examples that stand out are the opening of our Pune technology hub, strengthening our presence in Silicon Valley and this week’s announcement to acquire Applied Predictive Technologies.

Retailers – We’re also using our technology to help retailers grow new businesses and new opportunities. We are extending electronic payments with mobile POS to allow more retailers in places like Nigeria and Hungary to accept payments through their phones. Combined with our efforts at quick service restaurants and transit providers, we’re chipping away at the 85 percent of global transactions currently done with cash.

I’ll close with a brief thought on our industry and our business. The overall growth prospects for the payments industry have not changed. And, the underlying drivers of our business remain solid, which serves us well as we expand our reach in strategic areas such as processing, loyalty, information services and all things digital.

Continue to follow developments on our business here on the Engagement Bureau and on our Investor Relations website.