Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. We certainly thank you for this opportunity.
We've always appreciated and respected the collaboration between Interac and the members of this committee to help advance the needs of merchants and consumers, as well as to ensure that we have a healthy, competitive, and very innovative payments marketplace in Canada.
Interac is Canada's leading payment brand. Our organization operates a low-cost and world-class debit system that is embraced by Canadians. Our brand is chosen an average of 12 million times daily to pay and exchange money. We securely connect people to their money at the ABM, at retailers across Canada and the U.S., and online through web-based services, Interac online for online e-commerce purchases, and Interac e-transfer for person-to-person payments, which has growing business use as a cheque replacement solution, particularly among smaller businesses.
In addition, Interac Flash, the secure, contactless enhancement of Interac Debit, is in widespread use at retailers across Canada, and provides the platform for mobile NFC proximity payments. We are also a leader in the prevention and detection of fraud, and consumers are fully protected for fraudulent transactions with our zero-liability policy.
We are experts in debit products, the products that allow customers to securely access the funds they have in their bank accounts. Canadians love using our products, and getting these payment solutions accessible through mobile channels is a given for us. In fact, last year we successfully completed the first NFC mobile debit transactions in Canada, and among the first globally from a domestic debit network. As you heard in recent testimony from RBC, the RBC wallet, powered by RBC Secure Cloud, is enabled with Interac Flash, so RBC customers can use the RBC wallet to make payments anywhere Interac Flash is accepted.
In addition, our leading Interact e-transfer P2P solution is also widely offered through financial institutions' mobile banking platforms. We are actively working with financial institutions to support their mobile implementations, and ensuring that customers will have the choice to use debit to pay with their mobile device, whether their financial institution chooses NFC SIM-based solution or a cloud-based solution.
Ultimately, we will continue to innovate and go where there is consumer and merchant need and where it makes sense.
Canada has a highly competitive and innovative payments environment, and additional competition is constantly emerging. Curiously, on February 15, in testimony before this committee, one of our competitors claimed that government has sought to limit competition within Canada's debit system, which has resulted in a lack of innovation. I think you can see that this is not the case. We are and will remain an active and innovative player in the arena.
I would also add that financial institutions have always been free to offer different competitive debit products with different features and functionality to their clients. The government's code of conduct for the credit and debit card industry in Canada does nothing to change that fact. Other payment networks are free to sell their domestic point-of-sale value proposition to financial institutions and merchants alike, as companies like American Express and Discover have done to build their respective businesses in Canada. By developing the code of conduct, the government clearly recognized the need for stronger checks and balances to address the obfuscation and other tactics that have potential to create an unhealthy competitive environment. We firmly believe that the code of conduct and underlying public policy objectives should be maintained for all emerging payment technologies, including mobile, and should be considered a foundation for future efforts.
We believe that a successful, open mobile payment solution, one that can manage and present multiple payment applications, and other applications such as loyalty and coupons, must be one where consumers can clearly and transparently choose the secure payment methods they're using and accepting. Payment schemes and application issuers should not dictate these terms. While payment delivery technologies will evolve, this should not alter the right of merchants to make informed and conscious choices about the payment solutions they wish to accept.
In summary, we are focused on bringing innovations to the payments marketplace, and believe that new products and enhancements should derive a tangible value to end users. With this forward-looking focus, it is our view that the regulatory framework should continue to evolve and alleviate competitive inequities where they exist, and allow a smooth path for payments innovation.
Thank you. I look forward to your questions.