Finance committee  There is a real desire. As I believe I testified previously, we understand that there's an issue here. When you have a client base of merchants who are not pleased and are coming to Ottawa to discuss with you the problems with our industry, that's a sign it's not working. That being said, I think there are other signs that can be looked at.

Industry committee  I think we've mentioned that our relationship is with the banks. They are our clients. The merchants and the cardholders are important constituencies, but the contracts that merchants have are with their banks. We, as a network, don't impose any restrictions or any penalties as they relate to merchant contracts.

Industry committee  That's correct.

Industry committee  I wouldn't describe interchange fees that way. As I think we've testified already today, there are many objectives and many considerations that we look at in setting interchange fees. Certainly there is the value proposition to the merchant community relative to cash. We have a General Accountability Office study that looked at the processing of payments in the postal service in the United States and found that we were lower cost.

Finance committee  I think we've mentioned that our relationship is with the banks. They are our clients. The merchants and the cardholders are important constituencies, but the contracts that merchants have are with their banks. We, as a network, don't impose any restrictions or any penalties as they relate to merchant contracts.

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  I wouldn't describe interchange fees that way. As I think we've testified already today, there are many objectives and many considerations that we look at in setting interchange fees. Certainly there is the value proposition to the merchant community relative to cash. We have a General Accountability Office study that looked at the processing of payments in the postal service in the United States and found that we were lower cost.

Industry committee  We certainly can't speak to the contracts that merchants have with their banks. I can speak to the rules that Visa has, as a network. And we do not prohibit a bank and a merchant to have a relationship where they discount transactions for cash.

Industry committee  It's referred to as Visa Infinite. My colleague made reference earlier to an honour-all-cards rule, and we have one that applies across the suite of credit products. A merchant makes a decision to accept Visa for credit, and they make a separate decision to accept Visa or not for debit.

Industry committee  There is an option. First of all, as it relates to the transaction amount and the decision to accept, that's a common decision. If the consumer presents a Visa Infinite card, and the card design is clearly laid out, then if the merchant wants to try to influence the consumer and ask for another form of payment, and provide a discount, for example, for cash, that's an option the merchant has.

Industry committee  On the 70% statistic, I suspect it's possible that there are merchants out there who see that kind of concentration. Clearly, merchants who decide to set up shop on the Internet are able to do so because of the billions of dollars of investments that have been made in the card networks...so a high concentration of their business because of a high concentration of value.

Finance committee  It's referred to as Visa Infinite. My colleague made reference earlier to an honour-all-cards rule, and we have one that applies across the suite of credit products. A merchant makes a decision to accept Visa for credit, and they make a separate decision to accept Visa or not for debit.

Finance committee  There is an option. First of all, as it relates to the transaction amount and the decision to accept, that's a common decision. If the consumer presents a Visa Infinite card, and the card design is clearly laid out, then if the merchant wants to try to influence the consumer and ask for another form of payment, and provide a discount, for example, for cash, that's an option the merchant has.

Finance committee  We certainly can't speak to the contracts that merchants have with their banks. I can speak to the rules that Visa has, as a network. And we do not prohibit a bank and a merchant to have a relationship where they discount transactions for cash.

Finance committee  On the 70% statistic, I suspect it's possible that there are merchants out there who see that kind of concentration. Clearly, merchants who decide to set up shop on the Internet are able to do so because of the billions of dollars of investments that have been made in the card networks...so a high concentration of their business because of a high concentration of value.