Canada
In Canada, virtually all domestic debit card transactions are processed over the Interac network, though several financial institutions have also permitted PIN-based ATM transactions internationally over the Visa-owned Plus network. However, Interac's dominance has left little room for alternative debit networks such as Visa or MasterCard to be used for domestic transactions.
Beginning in 2010, several Canadian financial institutions which primarily offer credit cards through the Visa network – namely CIBC, RBC, and TD – began to offer Visa Debit, either through a dual-network co-branded card which also works on Interac (CIBC and TD), or as a "virtual" card used alongside the customer's existing Interac debit card (RBC). Both options ensure customers can perform point-of-sale transactions or ATM withdrawals as usual via Interac, but use the Visa network to process online, phone, and international transactions, none of which are well-supported by Interac. (The latter does have its own online payment service, Interac Online, which co-branded Visa cards are not eligible for, though that service has had relatively low retailer uptake.)
For the dual-network cards, in-person transactions within Canada are processed on the Interac network, but international transactions, as well as online and phone orders through Canadian retailers, are processed through the Visa network. (However, Canadian retailers must specifically allow for Visa Debit transactions, even if they already accept Visa credit cards.) "Virtual Visa Debit" works similarly; customers use their existing Interac debit cards for in-person transactions (and Interac Online) in Canada, but are also provided with a secondary "virtual" Visa card (i.e. card number, expiry, and CVV2) which can be used for online and phone transactions (but not point-of-sale, in Canada or internationally).
Although Visa has in the past floated the prospect of competing directly with Interac in regards to point-of-sale transactions, it does not appear to be pursuing that option at this time.
Read more about this topic: Visa Debit
Famous quotes containing the word canada:
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This universal exhibition in Canada of the tools and sinews of war reminded me of the keeper of a menagerie showing his animals’ claws. It was the English leopard showing his claws.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.”
—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)