Visa & MasterCard Lead The 'Digital Dollars Index'

According to Motif Investing, “the way we pay is undergoing an unprecedented shift,” as consumers continue to move away from paper-based cash and checks and toward plastic and other digital methods.

Electronic payments offer consumers a plethora of benefits and account for more than 75 percent of total non-cash transactions in the U.S.

Meanwhile, traditional cash-based emerging markets are also adopting to new payment methods.

Motif Investing has constructed its Motif Digital Dollars Index, which consists of financial firms involved in four segments: Card Networks, Processors, Solutions and Infrastructure & Software.

Visa Inc (NYSE: V) represents 17.7 percent of the entire index, while MasterCard Inc (NYSE: MA) lags slightly behind at 17.6 percent.

The third largest holding in the index is eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) at 9.9 percent, followed by American Express (NYSE: AXP) at 9.6 percent and Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS) at 6.0 percent.

The index, which comprises a total of 25 companies, has returned 8.2 percent year to date and has a 0.7 percent dividend yield with a P/E ratio of 26.20.