Industry committee  I was just going to indicate that I appreciate that there's clearly an issue here. We wouldn't be having this hearing, we wouldn't be having these discussions, if there weren't. And in many of the exchanges that my colleague and I have had with merchants, we understand that many

Finance committee  I was just going to indicate that I appreciate that there's clearly an issue here. We wouldn't be having this hearing, we wouldn't be having these discussions, if there weren't. And in many of the exchanges that my colleague and I have had with merchants, we understand that many

Industry committee  If it's all right, I'd like to add one element to my colleague's answer. I agree with Tim that when we look at costs, it misses the benefits. I also think that if we look back historically in Canada over the last 20 or 30 years, we see that most major retailers invested in thei

Industry committee  I understand. It's a very good question. I think part of what gets lost, as I'm sure the committee understands, is that this is a complex payment system, and consumers are very important constituencies here. They absolutely benefit from card acceptance; they receive rewards and

Finance committee  If it's all right, I'd like to add one element to my colleague's answer. I agree with Tim that when we look at costs, it misses the benefits. I also think that if we look back historically in Canada over the last 20 or 30 years, we see that most major retailers invested in thei

Finance committee  I understand. It's a very good question. I think part of what gets lost, as I'm sure the committee understands, is that this is a complex payment system, and consumers are very important constituencies here. They absolutely benefit from card acceptance; they receive rewards and

Industry committee  I know Visa would not agree there's a cash subsidy. It's shocking to you, I know.

Industry committee  In fact, one of the things we talk quite a bit about with our merchant partners and have measured a number of times, as have a host of third parties, is that there are exceptional costs associated with handling cash; and I think that typically gets lost in the discussion.

Industry committee  My only point, Mr. McKay, is that when you look at the North American market in total, our research suggests that somewhere close to $3.6 trillion to $3.7 trillion a year is expended in cash transactions. Not only are those transactions very expensive for the merchants in terms o

Industry committee  We respect that payments are very important to Canada. They're important to merchants; they're important to consumers; and they're certainly very important to the banks, our clients. I don't think Visa has a problem with regulation. In fact, we live in a regulated industry, as

Finance committee  I know Visa would not agree there's a cash subsidy. It's shocking to you, I know.

Finance committee  In fact, one of the things we talk quite a bit about with our merchant partners and have measured a number of times, as have a host of third parties, is that there are exceptional costs associated with handling cash; and I think that typically gets lost in the discussion.

Finance committee  My only point, Mr. McKay, is that when you look at the North American market in total, our research suggests that somewhere close to $3.6 trillion to $3.7 trillion a year is expended in cash transactions. Not only are those transactions very expensive for the merchants in terms o

Finance committee  We respect that payments are very important to Canada. They're important to merchants; they're important to consumers; and they're certainly very important to the banks, our clients. I don't think Visa has a problem with regulation. In fact, we live in a regulated industry, as

Industry committee  If it's helpful, we tend to not think about the company on a return-on-equity basis. There are a number of measures that we look at, earnings per share, revenue growth. I think the guidance that we provided to investors on a global basis is that we, on a long-run basis, expect to