Finance committee  They would echo that if the Interac brand is confused in any way in a multi-brand situation on the card, it's to our detriment, and it doesn't adhere to our tenets of consumer choice and then merchant choice.

Finance committee  Right, and that has to be overt. These tactics are very important. Take a look at the U.S. debit wars and the tactics that were employed around whether the brands of the two debit networks were not disadvantaged in any way, whether they were both prominently displayed in an equal fashion.

Finance committee  I can't divulge. You're way off on the amounts.

Finance committee  We have been successful in a single debit provider market with no well-financed U.S. competitors, when everyone was on the same page at the same time and instituted a national debit service, yes. As we've seen around the world, we are the last remaining association in North America, and one of a handful left in the entire globe, and that's for a reason.

Industry committee  As I said, their pricing is very different from what they have anywhere in the world, either the MasterCard debit or the Maestro. Yes, I'm in a cost recovery model. I know my marketing and R and D budgets, and I know that we vacillate from 0.4¢ to 0.8¢ without any return--

Industry committee  Just because the Bank of Montreal may support competition in the debit market doesn't mean they de-support Interac. I think Interac is very important, and they are demonstrating this in the costs and time that they have put into this endeavour over the past two years. You'll have to ask more details of them, but from an issuer standpoint I think it's very important to have Interac as a countervailing force with respect to their dealings going forward.

Industry committee  As I said in my opening comments, I support those statements. I understand the need for MasterCard and Visa to try to convey a value proposition on why they are absolutely needed in this marketplace, and they've chosen to take the tenets that they're more secure, that Interac isn't online, and that they're international.

Industry committee  The board is 14. It has 61 members in total. Actually, it's a little over 60 members.

Industry committee  That is correct. The current board recognized that for the future restructuring, there is a limited mandate of an independent board. It's composed of senior merchants; an issuer; the former founder and CEO of STAR, who loves to tell us what not to do; and a number of other acquirers.

Finance committee  Just because the Bank of Montreal may support competition in the debit market doesn't mean they de-support Interac. I think Interac is very important, and they are demonstrating this in the costs and time that they have put into this endeavour over the past two years. You'll have to ask more details of them, but from an issuer standpoint I think it's very important to have Interac as a countervailing force with respect to their dealings going forward.

Finance committee  As I said in my opening comments, I support those statements. I understand the need for MasterCard and Visa to try to convey a value proposition on why they are absolutely needed in this marketplace, and they've chosen to take the tenets that they're more secure, that Interac isn't online, and that they're international.

Finance committee  As I said, their pricing is very different from what they have anywhere in the world, either the MasterCard debit or the Maestro. Yes, I'm in a cost recovery model. I know my marketing and R and D budgets, and I know that we vacillate from 0.4¢ to 0.8¢ without any return--

Finance committee  The board is 14. It has 61 members in total. Actually, it's a little over 60 members.

Finance committee  That is correct. The current board recognized that for the future restructuring, there is a limited mandate of an independent board. It's composed of senior merchants; an issuer; the former founder and CEO of STAR, who loves to tell us what not to do; and a number of other acquirers.

Industry committee  I say “a low-cost provider”. You've heard the testimony regarding MasterCard's current pricing strategy into the market. We have been historically, for 15 years since Interac debit began, a low-cost provider. No one can argue that 0.4¢ to 0.8¢ isn't low cost. What I'm saying is that our strategy in the future is to offer a balanced value proposition going forward to maintain that primacy.