Finance committee  There are a couple of things. My comments earlier were referring to the challenges with the merchant community. I think you've heard from merchants that are not pleased, and we do think that's a problem. We think the consumers, the cardholders, that you refer to in your question

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  First of all, we are a payments network. We don't take credit risk. Many of our banks are having challenges in the U.S. and elsewhere, but the investments we have made in Canada have increased with the restructuring and going public, and there is no cross-subsidization.

Industry committee  There are a couple of things. My comments earlier were referring to the challenges with the merchant community. I think you've heard from merchants that are not pleased, and we do think that's a problem. We think the consumers, the cardholders, that you refer to in your question

Industry committee  No.

Industry committee  First of all, we are a payments network. We don't take credit risk. Many of our banks are having challenges in the U.S. and elsewhere, but the investments we have made in Canada have increased with the restructuring and going public, and there is no cross-subsidization.

Finance committee  Australia is a great example, and I appreciate that it's a confusing one. Even though there has been regulation that we think is bad—and I'll talk about the downside of the regulation in Australia—there continues to be a secular shift as consumers change their spending patterns a

Finance committee  It's a difficult question, because we've been at this for fifty years. We've built what we think is a wonderful brand, invested billions of dollars, and have 30 million merchants that accept Visa globally. Do I think someone can come along and replicate that quickly? No, but ther

Industry committee  Australia is a great example, and I appreciate that it's a confusing one. Even though there has been regulation that we think is bad—and I'll talk about the downside of the regulation in Australia—there continues to be a secular shift as consumers change their spending patterns a

Industry committee  It's a difficult question, because we've been at this for fifty years. We've built what we think is a wonderful brand, invested billions of dollars, and have 30 million merchants that accept Visa globally. Do I think someone can come along and replicate that quickly? No, but ther

Finance committee  I'd like to add to my colleague's response. As private company, a for-profit company, we believe we've been able to be more efficient. We've been able to move capital in investment into the network that was impossible before, and we are driving more services that reduce risk an

Industry committee  I'd like to add to my colleague's response. As private company, a for-profit company, we believe we've been able to be more efficient. We've been able to move capital in investment into the network that was impossible before, and we are driving more services that reduce risk an

Finance committee  Thank you. There may be some confusion, in that when a transaction moves from a basic credit card to a Visa Infinite card, it's a different value proposition for the consumer. We've already established that it's a slightly different interchange fee, about 20 basis points higher.

Finance committee  There is a real desire. As I believe I testified previously, we understand that there's an issue here. When you have a client base of merchants who are not pleased and are coming to Ottawa to discuss with you the problems with our industry, that's a sign it's not working. That

Industry committee  Thank you. There may be some confusion, in that when a transaction moves from a basic credit card to a Visa Infinite card, it's a different value proposition for the consumer. We've already established that it's a slightly different interchange fee, about 20 basis points higher.