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Operating area | Canada |
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Members | 83 |
ATMs | 59,000 |
Founded | 1984 February 1, 2018 (as Interac Corporation) | (as Interac Association)
Owner | Interac Corporation |
Website | interac.ca |
Interac is a Canadian interbank network that links financial institutions and other enterprises for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions. Interac serves as the Canadian debit card system and the predominant funds transfer network via its e-Transfer service. There are over 59,000 automated teller machines that can be accessed through the Interac network in Canada, and over 450,000 merchant locations accepting Interac debit payments.[ citation needed ]
Industry | Financial services |
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Predecessors |
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Founded | February 1, 2018 |
The network was launched in 1984 through the nonprofit Interac Association, a cooperative venture between five financial institutions: RBC, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD, and Desjardins; by 2010, there were over 80 member organizations. The group founded a for-profit counterpart organization, Acxsys, in 1996, which launched additional Interac-branded services including e-transfers. Following several aborted merger attempts which were either blocked by the Competition Bureau or by some of the co-owners between 2008 and 2013, Interac and Acxsys were combined into a single for-profit organization, Interac Corporation, on 1 February 2018. [1] [2] Interac's head office is located at Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto.
In 2019, Interac Corporation acquired 2Keys Corporation, Ottawa-based digital identity and cyber security for governments, financial institutions and commercial clients. [3] [4]
In 2021, Interac Corporation acquired the exclusive rights to the digital ID services for Canada from the digital ID and authentication provider SecureKey Technologies Inc. [5] [6]
On July 8, 2022, all Interac services were disrupted in Canada due to a nationwide Rogers Communications network outage resulting in millions of dollars in lost transactions for businesses. [7] [8] On July 11, 2022, Interac stated they were adding another provider in addition to Rogers to strengthen their network redundancy. [9]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(August 2022) |
Interac is the organization responsible for the development of a national network of two shared electronic financial services:
Interac Direct Payment (IDP) is Canada's national debit card service for purchasing of goods and services. In 1990 Interac launched a new pilot called Interac Direct Payments. Customers enter their personal identification number (PIN) and the amount paid is deducted from either their chequing or savings accounts. As of 2001, the number of transactions completed via IDP has surpassed those completed using physical money. [10] Beginning in 2004, IDP purchases could also be made in the United States at merchants on the NYCE network. IDP is similar in nature to the EFTPOS systems in use in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Interac Direct Payment is a PIN-based system where the information entered on the PIN pad is encrypted and verified at a central server, rather than being stored on the card itself[ citation needed ]. Because of this, it is significantly more secure than traditional signature or card-based transactions[ dubious – discuss ][ citation needed ]. Despite these security features, there are ongoing fraud concerns, particularly when debit cards are duped or skimmed — a compromised automated teller machine or point-of-sale terminal will record the account information contained in the magnetic strip of the card, allowing for duplicate cards to be created at a later time. The owner of the card is then secretly video taped or observed entering their PIN, allowing a criminal to use duplicate cards to make fraudulent purchases.
In 2007, Interac announced it would be moving to EMV chip card technology. [11] [12] The main benefit to this technology over the existing magnetic stripes is that the chips are almost impossible to copy due to high levels of encryption.
Shared Cash Dispensing (SCD): cash withdrawals from any ABM not belonging to a cardholder's financial institution. This Canada-specific service is similar to international systems like Plus or Cirrus. Virtually every ABM in Canada is on the Interac system.
The Interac e-Transfer service is offered by CertaPay. It allows online banking customers to send money to anyone with an e-mail address or a cellphone number and a bank account in Canada. Prior to February 2018, this was an Interac-branded service operated by Acxsys Corporation. Interac e-Transfer service is designated as a prominent payment system and is subject to oversight by the Bank of Canada. [13]
The Interac Online service allows customers to pay for goods and services over the Internet using funds directly from their bank accounts. Because no financial information is shared with the online merchant, the Interac Online service is more secure than online credit card payments. This service, operated by Acxsys Corporation from 2005-2018 and by Interac Corporation since then, was available to customers of four of the five largest Canadian banks: RBC, BMO, Scotiabank, and TD Canada Trust by 2007.
By February 2009, Interac Online was supported by roughly 300 merchants including two large universities (for tuition payments), two major wireless carriers, provincial lottery corporations, and a wide variety of retailers. It was later adopted by Paymentwall (for payments to third-party merchants) and the Canada Revenue Agency (for income tax payments).
Interac Online was an Online Banking ePayments service very similar to iDEAL in the Netherlands, Giropay [14] in Germany, and Secure Vault Payments [15] in the United States.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has dropped all support for Interac Online, effective 6 January 2023. According to their site, "Interac Online is being phased out by major financial institutions and will no longer be supported as a payment option for deposits." [16]
As of 2023, the service has been dropped by all major Canadian banks except TD Canada Trust and the First Nations Bank of Canada, with RBC being the latest to abandon the scheme.
A few small credit unions in British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland remain. [17]
According to the Royal Bank of Canada, "As of January 6 2023, RBC will no longer support the option to pay for online purchases using the Interac Online Payments service. If you use Interac Online Payment service to make CRA tax payments: You will be able to make tax payments to CRA using Interac Online Payment until May 30, 2023." [18]
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. Debit cards are similar to a credit card, but the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.
Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale, abbreviated as EFTPOS; is the technical term referring to a type of payment transaction where electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usually via payment methods such as payment cards. EFTPOS technology was developed during the 1980s.
EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for "Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created the standard.
An e-commerce payment system facilitates the acceptance of electronic payment for offline transfer, also known as a subcomponent of electronic data interchange (EDI), e-commerce payment systems have become increasingly popular due to the widespread use of the internet-based shopping and banking.
Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit functionality is often incorporated on the same plastic card that allows access to ATM and any domestic networks like EFTPOS or Interac.
Accel is a North American interbank network owned by Fiserv. It connects over 412,000 automatic teller machines (ATMs) in all 50 states in the United States. The network also has a small number of ATMs in certain U.S. Air Force Bases around the world, and over 3.3 million electronic funds transfer at point-of-sale locations.
UnionPay, also known as China UnionPay or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese state-owned financial services corporation headquartered in Shanghai, China. It provides bank card services and a major card scheme in mainland China. Founded on 26 March 2002, China UnionPay is an association for China's banking card industry, operating under the approval of the People's Bank of China. It is also an electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) network, and the only interbank network in China that links all the automatic teller machine (ATMs) of all banks throughout the country. UnionPay cards can be used in 181 countries and regions around the world.
Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and make payments by electronic transfer with a payment terminal and access automated teller machines (ATMs). Such cards are known by a variety of names, including bank cards, ATM cards, client cards, key cards or cash cards.
An ATM card is a dedicated payment card card issued by a financial institution which enables a customer to access their financial accounts via its and others' automated teller machines (ATMs) and, in some countries, to make approved point of purchase retail transactions. ATM cards are not credit cards or debit cards, however most credit and debit cards can also act as ATM cards and that is the most common way that banks issue cards since the 2010s.
Interac e-Transfer is a Canadian funds transfer service between personal and business accounts in participating Canadian banks and other financial institutions, offered through Interac Corporation.
Moneris is a Canadian financial technology company that specializes in payment processing.
The payment card industry (PCI) denotes the debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards and associated businesses.
Caribbean Integrated Financial Services Inc. (CarIFS) was a Barbados-based interbank network or ABM-network provider. The company used the brand name CarIFS and offered customers of various financial institutions in Barbados 24-hour access to cash from their bank accounts via any affiliated Automated Banking Machine (ABM). The network was shut down in 2020 and card transactions moved to the international VISA and Mastercard network.
Discover Financial Services is an American financial services company that owns and operates Discover Bank, an online bank that offers checking and savings accounts, personal loans, home equity loans, student loans and credit cards. It also owns and operates the Discover and Pulse networks, and owns Diners Club International. Discover Card is the third largest credit card brand in the United States, when measured by cards in force, with nearly 50 million cardholders. Discover is currently headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods, Illinois.
Versapay is a North American financial technology company headquartered in Miami, Florida. Versapay specializes in account receivable software and cash application for midsized businesses. It was listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol VPY between January 2010 and February 2020 when it was acquired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners for $126 million.
Giropay is an Internet payment system in Germany, based on online banking. Introduced in February 2006, this payment method allows customers to buy securely on the Internet using direct online transfers from their bank account. The system is similar to the Dutch iDEAL payment system, MyBank payment system, the Interac online service in Canada, pagomiscuentas payment service in Argentina, and Secure Vault Payments in the United States. Giropay was owned by giropay GmbH until December 2020, when it was acquired by paydirekt. The two began a merger in May 2021. On 1 July 2024 paydirekt announced that the Giropay service will be shut down on 31 December 2024. Some payment providers stopped the service on 30 June 2024. It will be replaced by the European payment system Wero, which was launched on 2 July 2024.
Worldpay is an American multinational financial technology company and payment processing company. Worldpay provides payment and technology services to merchants and financial institutions globally generating 40 billion transactions across 146 countries and 135 currencies.
Peoples Trust Company, operating as Peoples Group, is a Canadian financial services company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Peoples Group operates as a trust company and also maintains a chartered bank subsidiary, Peoples Bank of Canada. It is a subsidiary of the Alberta-based holding company Triple Five Group and maintains offices in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto.
Card transaction data is financial data generally collected through the transfer of funds between a card holder's account and a business's account. It consists of the use of either a debit card or a credit card to generate data on the transfer for the purchase of goods or services. Transaction data describes an action composed of events in which master data participates. Transaction focuses on the price, discount and method of payment interaction between the customer and the organization. They are based on volatility as each transaction data changes every time a purchase is made, one time it could be $10, the next $55. Since debit and credit cards are commonly used to pay for goods and services, they represent a strong percentage of the consumption expenditure in the country.
Google Pay is a mobile payment service developed by Google to power in-app, online, and in-person contactless purchases on mobile devices, enabling users to make payments with Android phones, tablets, or watches. Users can authenticate via a PIN, passcode, or biometrics such as 3D face scanning or fingerprint recognition.