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GLOBE AND MAIL
Tuesday, 26 December 1995
By John Partridge
Financial Services Reporter
New Debit Card Network On Way
MasterCard's Maestro will allow foreign visitors
to use service in Canada
Another chunk of Canadian electronic banking is going
international. Foreign visitors whose home financial institution
belongs to the international Maestro Debit Network soon
will be able to use their debit cards to make purchases
in some Canadian stores.
Regina-based CU Electronic Transaction Services, which
provides credit card and other electronic services for
credit unions across Canada, is working with Maestro's
owner, masterCard International Inc. of New York, to introduce
the system and help credit unions sign up local merchants.
The system is the international equivalent of the debit
card network operated in Canada by the Interac Association.
There also is a competing international debit network
called Interlink, operated by MasterCard's key rival Visa
International Service Association, although it is not
currently available in Canada.
A MasterCard executive conducted the ceremonial first
transaction in Canada Wednesday at an Edmonton store,
using a Maestro card to access a bank account in New York
to pay for a purchase.
Several Canadian MasterCard members, including National
Trust Co., Bank of Montreal and Alberta Treasury Branches,
already issue Maestro-compatible debit cards that holders
can use abroad at merchants linked to Maestro, said MasterCard
spokeswoman Tracy Folkes Hanson.
However, until CU Electronic Transaction Services signed
up as a so-called "acquirer" of transactions - that is,
to provide the electronic links between merchants and
the cardholder's home institution - foreign visitors have
not been able to do this in Canada.
Ms. Folkes Hanson said she expects other Canadian Maestro
issuers to become acquirers - and sign up merchants for
the service - in 1996, with Bank of Montreal expected
to be first out of the gate.
Susan Takasaki, Visa's Canadian marketing manager, said
a number of Canadian Visa issuers currently are studying
the possibility of joining Interlink.
Ms. Takasaki cited figures from the Nilson Report, a credit
card industry newsletter, showing that Interlink now does
a lot more business than Maestro in the giant U.S. market.
The newletter reported last February that Interlink handled
163 million transactions worth $4.1-billion (U.S.) in
1994, compared with only 90,000 worth $1.8-million for
Maestro. They also show that Interlink had 30 million
operational cards, 52,000 merchant locations and 172,000
debit terminals, compared with 12 million cards, 34,000
locations and 74,733 terminals for Maestro. |
