comScore has released a report on the Canadian online banking sector showing that Canada is one of the world's most developed markets for online banking. "Canadians are typically very savvy Internet users, a fact that is underscored by their heavy usage of online banking," said Brent Bernie, president of comScore Media Metrix, comScore Canada. "But because the Canadian online banking sector is so developed and competition already so fierce, banks need to closely examine how they are meeting the needs of their consumers online if they are to achieve customer growth and retention through this increasingly important channel."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled "Plastic gets smart", Ian Harvey writes for the Globe and Mail about the smart card deployment underway in Canada.

According to a press release from Acxsys and NYCE, during the four month period from December through March 2008, Canadian shoppers spent record amounts and made significantly more cross-border purchases in the US than last year.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Canada has announced it conducting a four month trial of Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled phones with MasterCard PayPass capability on Bell Mobility's wireless network.   » Continue Reading

New survey results announced by Capital One Canada find that "individual Canadians spend more than 115 hours - almost five days - each year waiting in line and paying for daily purchases" - and that contactless payments can help save between 28 and 46 hours of that time.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced that in Canada it has increased its purchase threshold limit for PayPass Tap & Go purchases to $50 across all retail categories, including quick serve restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, movie theatres and convenience stores.   » Continue Reading

Global Payments has announced that Pioneer Petroleums, one of Ontario's largest independent gasoline retailers, is now accepting MasterCard PayPass contactless card acceptance. The service, which allows consumers to pay for goods and services with the simple tap of their payment card, is available at more than 140 Pioneer locations across Ontario.   » Continue Reading

Chase Card Services and the Canadian Cancer Society have announced the launch of the PayPass-enabled Canadian Cancer Society MasterCard from Chase. By using the card for daily purchases, one per cent of customers’ eligible net purchases will be donated directly to the Canadian Cancer Society.   » Continue Reading

Unified Network Payment Solutions® (UNPS), a subsidiary of First Data Corp., has announced that it has been certified by MasterCard and Visa to provide chip technology solutions to Canadian merchants. With this certification, UNPS merchants will be able to accept chip cards at the point of sale.   » Continue Reading

Members of the payment card industry in Canada - Interac Association, MasterCard Canada, Visa Canada and many of their respective card issuers and payment processors - have reported positive preliminary results from an industry trial of chip technology in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.   » Continue Reading

Visa Inc. and Visa Canada have announced the appointment of Tim Wilson as Head of Visa Canada effective May 30, 2008. Wilson will be replacing Derek Fry, who recently announced his retirement after 12 years as the President of Visa Canada.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Soaring rates of debit fraud prompt switch to smart cards' in today's Globe and Mail, Timothy Appleby writes about fraud on Interac debit cards and the planned migration to chip cards in Canada.

Heartland Payment Systems has announced it has acquired a majority interest in Collective Point of Sale Solutions Ltd, a growing Canadian provider of payment processing services and secure point-of-sale solutions. Under the agreement, Heartland will maintain the CollectivePOS brand in Canada. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'New gift-card rules riddled with loopholes, critics say', Karen Howlett reports for the Globe and Mail looks into the newly effective changes to law in Ontario affecting gift card terms - reporting that "it did not become apparent until this week that the legislation contains loopholes that allow gift cards for specific services, such as a massage, manicure or restaurant meal, to be exempt from the new rules."

Visa has announced "mobile payment trials in Brazil, Canada and Malaysia based on the Visa mobile platform. The trial in Brazil is testing mobile remote payments, while trials in Canada and Malaysia will test mobile Visa payWave transactions at contactless acceptance locations."   » Continue Reading

Scotiabank has announced it will be participating in a Canadian payment industry trial of EMV chip technology in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.   » Continue Reading

RBC and Visa Canada have announced they are teaming up to be "the first in Canada to pilot a mobile payment service that uses cellphones rather than traditional credit cards for making Visa purchases. This Ontario-based pilot is expected to be completed in 2008, and involve multiple phases including in-lab testing, an RBC staff pilot and a consumer trial." A video is available.   » Continue Reading

Members of the Canadian payments industry - Interac Association, MasterCard Canada Inc., Visa Canada and many of their respective card issuers, payment processors and merchants -- have announced "the beginning of Canada's migration to chip-enabled debit and credit cards, Automated Banking Machines (ABMs) and merchant terminals starting with a trial in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario."   » Continue Reading

First Data Corp. has announced the launch of "a new merchant acquiring business called POSNET to serve merchants of all sizes in Canada."   » Continue Reading

Joanna Pachner writes for Canada's Globe and Mail about contactless payments - saying that "perhaps the real breakthrough will happen with the next generation of contactless technology, already growing fast in Asia: mobile commerce, employing a new generation of cellphones equipped with near-field communication (NFC) chips."

Joseph Pereira writes for the Wall St. Journal about the findings of a Canadian government investigation looking into the payment card security breach at TJX.

Last week Canada's Interac Association announced "the completion of Canada's first INTERAC debit card transaction at the point-of-sale terminal using chip technology. The transaction was processed today by TD Merchant Services using a BMO Bank of Montreal chip debit card at Mercato Giovanni's Fresh Food located in downtown Toronto. The chip debit card transaction was conducted in preparation for the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario market trial of chip technology which will begin in fall 2007."   » Continue Reading

Ellen Roseman writes for the Toronto Star about printed credit card receipts in Canada - apparently many still contain the cardholder's full 16-digit account number and expiration data.

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Sizing Canada's Growing Card Market" that presents an overview of the current state of the Canadian payment card market, an analysis of recent market trends and metrics, a discussion of EMV compliance, and a review of contactless payment and new products and reward programs.   » Continue Reading

TD Canada Trust has announced the completion of "Canada's first transaction with a chip debit card. The transaction was made at a Green Machine automated banking machine (ABM) located in TD's Creekside Corporate Office in Mississauga, Ontario. TD becomes the first organization in Canada to be able to conduct a transaction using a chip debit card at a chip-enabled ABM that adheres to EMV standards."   » Continue Reading

Carly Weeks writes for the Vancouver Sun about increasing merchant concerns about chargebacks -

McDonald's Restaurants of Canada has announced that it will begin installing "MasterCard's PayPass readers and chip card terminals in some of its 1,400 restaurants across Canada as early as 2008."   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report on the plans for the Canadian payment card market to migrate to EMV chip cards over the next few years.   » Continue Reading

The Bank of Montreal has announced a new loyalty program that rewards Canadian AIR MILES Collectors for all of their debit card transactions. The bank says its new program is a move to capture the personal banking business of AIR MILES collectors who currently represent nine million active collector accounts or approximately two-thirds of Canadian households.   » Continue Reading

Canadian Tire and MasterCard Canada have announced that all of Canadian Tire Retail's 468 stores will be ready to accept MasterCard chip cards by the end of 2008. Canadian Tire is setting up its software, point-of-sale systems, and retail processes to be chip-ready as MasterCard issuers gear up to introduce chip cards across the Canadian market.   » Continue Reading

Lightbridge and Payment Services Interactive Gateway Corp. have jointly announced a non-binding letter of intent whereby Lightbridge plans to acquire all of the outstanding shares of PSiGate of Mississauga, Ontario.   » Continue Reading

Gillian Shaw writes for the Vancouver Sun about the increase in debit card fraud in Canada - saying it has "more that doubled during the past three years, reaching close to $100 million in 2006."

ClairMail has announced a strategic partnership with TELUS, a Canadian national telecommunications company, to enable retail banks, credit unions, brokerages, and credit card companies across Canada to offer mobile banking and payments services.   » Continue Reading

Gemalto has announced a "new end-to-end solution to help Canadian debit and credit card issuers implement the international EMV standard. Its EMV Pilot Package includes microprocessor-based smart card technology to provide better security to cardholders, as well as personalization and consultation services."   » Continue Reading

Ellen Roseman reports for the Toronto Star about changes that Canadian credit card issuers have been adopting that increase the fees and interest charged on credit cards in Canada.

Andy Williams reports for CR80 News about Canada's planned migration to EMV chip cards - and asks whether this will accelerate a migration to chip cards in the US.

Tara Perkins and Dana Flavelle report for the Toronto Star on actions being taken by several Canadian banks to reissue credit cards following reports of security breaches of credit card data at several retailers.

The Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation have announced the appointment of Mark P. O'Connell as President and CEO, effective February 7, 2007, saying he will focus on innovation in payment services and advancing Acxsys Corporation's and Interac Association's leadership in the industry. Most recently he was Executive Vice President, Finance Market at Emergis Inc., and for the past two years, he was Emergis Inc.'s appointee to the Interac Association Board of Directors.   » Continue Reading

Gemalto has announced that its personalization center outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada is the first to achieve smart banking card certification from Interac, Canada’s debit and Automated Banking Machine (ABM) network.   » Continue Reading

The Canadian Payments Association has posted a new set of questions and answers about cheque imaging in Canada. Unlike the voluntary exchange of check images enabled by Check 21 in the US, the CPA notes that its imaging initiative is "designed as an industry-wide transition to image-based clearing, with all CPA members participating and exchanging cheque images." Implementation of the new clearing process is targeted to begin in 2008 and to be phased in over approximately a year.

The Interac Association has announced that debit card fraud at gas stations across Canada has declined by more than 60 per cent over the past year. According to Interac, "the deep decline, representing about $15 million in avoided fraud losses, was largely the result of Project Protect, a joint education initiative spearheaded by Interac Association and law enforcement with support from Payment Card Partners and other industry partners."   » Continue Reading

Chase Card Services, Marriott International and Visa have announced the launch of the Marriott Rewards Platinum Visa Card in Canada.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Canada has announced that Chase Paymentech Solutions has become the first acquirer in Canada to receive approval from MasterCard to process chip transactions. According to MasterCard, "Chase Paymentech's approval sets the stage for the introduction of MasterCard chip cards in 2007."   » Continue Reading

Members of the Canadian payment card industry -- Interac Association, MasterCard Canada Inc., Visa Canada Association, and many of their respective card issuers and processors -- have announced their commitment to conduct a chip technology trial in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. The trial will allow participants to test the infrastructure and ensure interoperability of systems and devices in a controlled manner prior to each participant's national roll-out plan.   » Continue Reading

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Scott Coates has been named to lead product management and marketing communication for TransUnion's Canadian operations. Before TransUnion, Coates was manager of marketing strategy and analysis for Lexmark Canada Inc.'s consumer printer division.
• Robert McCabe Jr. has been named Chairman of the Board of Goldleaf Financial Solutions.

Dexit has announced that it has "executed a term sheet pursuant to which Mr. Paul Howell will be appointed to the position of President and CEO of Dexit and to its board of directors, effective immediately. Mr. Howell will also be the lead investor in a $1,141,743 equity investment in Dexit."   » Continue Reading

Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson files this report: I spoke on Friday with Barry Campbell, Director of Business Development for Acxsys Corporation and Interac Online, Canada's "credit push" online payment system.   » Continue Reading

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has released a new booklet for consumers, Pre-paid Cards (PDF), describing the "pre-paid" type of Visa and MasterCard branded payment cards, explaining what they are, how they work, and the various fees that can be charged for their use - reminding us that "pre-paid cards can be an expensive way to spend your own money."   » Continue Reading

According to a survey commissioned by the Canadian Interac Association, and conducted by The Strategic Counsel, 92 per cent of Canadians recognize the importance of shielding their PIN at a bank machine or a debit card terminal. However, 60 per cent do not always shield their PIN if they believe nobody can see them entering it, and 37 per cent do not always shield their PIN even if they believe somebody can see them entering it.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced that more than 20,000 merchant locations across Canada are enrolled in the MasterCard Quick Payment Service (QPS) program.   » Continue Reading

Varya Taylor writes for the Bank of Canada Review's Spring 2006 issue about the trends in retail payments (PDF) in Canada based upon a survey commissioned by the Bank of Canada. The article particularly focuses on cash and consumer attitudes towards the use and holdings of cash by the public. There's a wonderful graphic (Chart 11) on page 32 of the article that shows Canadian consumer preferences for payment methods (cash, debit, credit) for various transaction amounts.

The Toronto Star reports on increasing concerns by consumer groups in Canada about the error rate associated with pre-authorized debits against consumer checking accounts - citing more than 1,000 erroneous postings each day to consumer accounts.   » Continue Reading

Rita Trichur reports from Toronto of concerns being raised by the Retail Council of Canada about the return on investment associated with having to upgrade their point of sale systems to support the planned rollout of chip cards by Visa and MasterCard in Canada.   » Continue Reading

Bruce Erskine reports for the Halifax, Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald on Visa's migration to smart cards in Canada.   » Continue Reading

Mario Toneguzzi of the CanWest News Service writes about mortgage fraud becoming over a billion dollar a year industry in Canada.   » Continue Reading

Members of the Canadian payment card industry -- Interac Association, MasterCard Canada Inc., Visa Canada Association, and many of their respective card issuers and acquirers -- have announced a firm commitment to a broad industry migration to chip technology beginning with deployments next year and migration completion scheduled for 2010.   » Continue Reading

Mint Capital Corp. and GE Money, the Canadian consumer lending unit of General Electric Company, have announced an agreement to issue prepaid cards in Canada.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Canada has announced that 12 of its card issuers will be working with MasterCard and five acquirers to introduce chip-enabled MasterCard payment cards in Canada by 2010.   » Continue Reading

First Data Corp. has announced the results of a survey of the gift card market in Canada commissioned by First Data Prepaid Services' ValueLink unit. The survey of 1,015 Canadian adults aged 18 or older revealed nearly universal awareness of gift cards (91%) with well over half, 55 percent, of adult Canadian consumers indicating they had purchased and/or received a gift card in the previous 12 months.   » Continue Reading

D.L. McCracken reports for HalifaxLive.com on the surprising lack of interest among Canadian online merchants in supporting the Interac Online debit payment service.

According to McCracken, "apparently most online merchants have decided that adding a debit payment option is just not high on their list of priorities." The service announced that its first transaction was processed in June.   » Continue Reading

Catherine McLean reports for Canada's Globe and Mail on the efforts by Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility and Rogers Wireless to develop a standardized mobile commerce system called Wireless Payment Services.

Canada's national wireless service providers, Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and TELUS Mobility, have announced the launch of Wireless Payment Services, a jointly owned venture that will act as a mobile commerce, or m-commerce, gateway, facilitating secure wireless payment transactions while standardizing the user experience across Canadian wireless providers, devices and payment mechanisms.   » Continue Reading

Simon Avery reports for Globeandmail.com on migration efforts underway in Canada to prepare for smart cards.

For two years, card issuers and merchants have been building and installing new transaction systems that can handle credit and debit cards that store information on a computer chip. So-called smart cards will begin replacing magnetic strip cards late next year and the industry hopes to have the conversion completed by 2010.

The Canadian Bankers Association has announced that Canadians will now receive enhanced information and a guaranteed response time when they report unauthorized or fraudulent debit card transactions to their bank.   » Continue Reading

Garth Buchholz writes for InformIT.com on Canada's INTERAC PIN-based debit card system.   » Continue Reading

Moneris Solutions has announced that it has processed the first Interac Online transaction in Canada. Interac Online is a new service that allows Canadians to pay for goods and services purchased on the Internet directly from their bank account.   » Continue Reading

Canada's Dexit has announced an agreement with SMART System Technologies to integrate the Dexit prepaid payment service and SST's loyalty product into a single offering.

"Dexit offers everyday small value payment services and welcomes the opportunity to provide its current and future customers with loyalty services by partnering with SST," said Renah Persofsky, President and CEO of Dexit.

"SST meanwhile provides loyalty services and now has the opportunity to extend its product line by providing its customers with the Dexit prepaid small value payments service through Dexit. This is very much a case where the sum will be greater than the total of the parts. Given SST's position in the United States, we view this arrangement as a critical next step to entering that market."

Separately, Dexit announced its financial results for 2004. Revenues were C$1.76 million with 47,000 registered consumers and 350 merchants accepting Dexit.

The Globe and Mail is reporting today on the results of a study conducted by Visa Canada that reports that as many as 200,000 Canadians may have been unwittingly victimized in phishing attacks.

Visa Canada declared yesterday "Anti-Phishing" day as part of a public relations effort to increase consumer awareness of the issue. The full Visa Canada press release on phishing is available online along with a consumer brochure (PDF) on the subject.