NEW YORK -- Payment processing giant Visa (V.N) on Wednesday reported a sharp jump in its fiscal second-quarter profits from a year earlier on Wednesday, as more shoppers spent money on Visa's network across all its major markets.

The San Francisco-based company said it earned $2.61 billion in the period ending March 30, or $1.11 a share. The company's net income rose by 26 per cent when a one-time charge tied to the purchase of Visa Europe is excluded from the year-ago results.

Visa's profit beat the expectations of analysts, who forecast earnings of $1.01 a share, according to FactSet.

Spending across Visa's namesake network rose 11 per cent to $2.716 trillion in the quarter. As a payment processor, Visa earns a small fee from each transaction run on its network. The total number of cards issued on Visa's network grew to 3.25 billion from 3.13 billion a year earlier.

"Visa had a terrific second quarter," CEO Alfred Kelly said in a statement. "Revenue growth was better than anticipated and many of our key business drivers accelerated compared from the first quarter."

Like other companies, Visa now expects to pay significantly less tax going forward due to the new tax law signed by President Donald Trump. Visa expects its effective tax rate to be 20 to 22 per cent, down six percentage points from what it previously paid.