I knew I shouldn't have said anything.
When we look at the market today, we do not expect to see any significant change in this into the future. This is a mature market now. We do not expect to see ABMs gravitating back into retail stores at any point in the future, as far as we can tell.
Under those circumstances, essentially we have a neutral position on the question of convenience fees. We think it's not something that really affects our members or their business models or their operations in any significant way.
We would observe, as I think the previous panel did, that as we look at the economics of this and as a business that has gone into it and left it, if you put some constraints on fees you will see fewer ABMs offered to the public. I think that's just an outcome of what we've looked at, from our experiences as people who have offered it in the past.
Let me take a last minute to address the wider issue of electronic payments. We're delighted that this committee has cast the debate in that wider framework. We believe Canada has a good payment system, but our members are increasingly unhappy with the cost and the quality of the service they are receiving in some areas of the payment system, and they know ultimately it is the consumer who pays those costs, whether it's directly in the fee or whether it's hidden as a cost of doing business for the operations that have to use the payment system.
As well, we're seeing that the payment system is evolving and changing rapidly. There are new technologies, new players, new services. All of this is happening very quickly, and yet it's taking place without any public oversight or without any public consultation on that process. We're a little surprised, frankly, that Canada has been so passive in this area in contrast to what we've seen in other countries. We've seen other countries act. We've seen other countries really look at their payment systems in a very careful way.
In conclusion, my principal recommendation to the committee is that we believe Canada really needs a thorough review of the payment system with all the stakeholders at the table and a really thorough examination of the various costs and benefits to all the players.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.