We agree that at a minimum we should never go to an ad valorem, a percentage of the value of the transaction. There's no justification for it. It is simply a money grab. Our American confrères recommended that we not permit cards that have both debit and credit capability, because it causes more confusion to the consumer and the merchant about the cost of the transaction. Once again, you get the surprise at the end of the month.
We have to devise a “made in Canada” solution. But if Interac goes for-profit, could it then be bought out by Visa or MasterCard? If so, we could lose our Canadian player in the mix that has served us quite well. A lot of thinking has to be done before Interac is permitted to go for-profit, and I would say even before we open the doors to let Visa and MasterCard into the debit market holus bolus, which is what they want to do very soon.