You can't easily become a bank in Canada. For you to become a bank there's a significant process and it's very restrictive. In the U.S., you can put down a $100,000 deposit and in short order you become a bank. It's that simple, and as soon as you want, whether you're a bank or a processor, you can start moving money, and by virtue of that you can start competing, whether it's on the credit card side, the debit card side, or an alternative side. It's easier to access that banking network and become part of that network. It's not that easy here.
On October 17th, 2011. See this statement in context.