(Reuters) -Visa Inc on Thursday named insider Ryan McInerney as its new chief executive officer, effective Feb. 1.
McInerney, currently the payments giant's president, replaces Alfred Kelly Jr, who has held the CEO's role since 2016.
The leadership change comes at a challenging time for the payments industry as analysts look towards upcoming headwinds from soaring inflation that has sapped purchasing power and ignited worries of a harsh economic downturn.
Kelly, who has been Visa (NYSE:V)'s chairman since 2019, will assume the role of executive chairman of the board following the transition.
Kelly's tenure coincided with a boom in financial technology companies and digital lenders that offered tough competition to traditional players like Visa.
A former president at peer American Express Co (NYSE:AXP), Kelly took the helm at Visa after Charles Scharf stepped down. Scharf later went to lead Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) Corp and is currently the chief executive officer of Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) & Co.
Last month, Visa reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings as more Americans took advantage of a stronger dollar to fly to international destinations and splurge on shopping and entertainment.
The world's biggest payments processor's shares, which are down nearly 3% this year as of last close, have outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 Index.