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04/11/2009 -
The controversy over Visa and MasterCard's arrival into the Canadian debit card market continued this week, as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business issued a report to merchants urging them to read the fine print when upgrading their POS terminals.The report noted that new credit card processing terminals will feature chip and PIN technology that offers the ability to process the new Visa and MasterCard debit cards.
The CFIB warned merchants that MasterCard plans to implement priority routing, meaning all debit card transactions will automatically be routed over the MasterCard network.
While the current rates for MasterCard and Interac - the dominant player in the Canadian debit card processing industry - are similar, there is no guarantee that they will remain on par.
And although it has been said that Visa will have higher debit card processing fees than Interac or MasterCard, the company currently has no plans to implement priority routing.
Dan Kelly, senior vice president of legislative affairs for the CFIB, wrote in a guest column for the Financial Times that the organization's Credit Card Code of Conduct on behalf of small businesses has earned 30,000 signatures.
Finance minister Jim Flaherty has announced that a voluntary code of conduct is in the process of being developed to help regulate Visa and Mastercard's entry into the Canadian debit card market.
