Interac
Interac is Canada’s national payment network, operating the country’s dominant debit infrastructure across in-store, online, and person-to-person payments. It is owned by a consortium of Canadian financial institutions and processes transactions for virtually every Canadian with a bank account. Interac operates two primary merchant-facing products: Interac Debit for card-present and online debit payments, and Interac e-Transfer, which processed over 1.4 billion transactions totalling CAD $554 billion in the twelve months to 2024.
Canada has a well-established cultural preference for debit over credit. Interac Debit is the primary payment instrument for in-store transactions across all retail categories, and Interac Online extends that preference into e-commerce by redirecting customers to their bank’s secure environment to authenticate and confirm the payment, with no banking credentials shared with the merchant. The transaction is guaranteed once approved, eliminating chargeback risk on standard Interac transactions.
On cost, Interac Debit is one of the lowest-cost acceptance methods available to Canadian merchants. The fee structure is typically a flat per-transaction amount, often between CAD $0.04 and $0.12, with no percentage-based component. For high-volume merchants and those processing smaller average ticket sizes, the cost differential versus Visa and Mastercard debit is material. Interac Flash, the contactless variant, carries similarly low fixed fees for low-value transactions.
A notable regulatory development took effect in September 2025: Canada’s Retail Payment Activities Act came into force, bringing PSPs under federal oversight by the Bank of Canada for the first time. Interac simultaneously opened its e-Transfer network to qualifying PSPs registered under the RPAA framework, broadening access to the Interac infrastructure beyond banks and credit unions. This is a meaningful structural change for merchants evaluating PSP options in Canada, as more providers will be able to offer native Interac integration.
For non-Canadian merchants selling cross-border into Canada or establishing Canadian operations, Interac acceptance is a practical necessity. Canadian consumers expect debit as a checkout option, and card-only checkouts leave a measurable share of domestic transaction volume on the table. Adyen was the first international PSP to offer Interac Online, and several other global providers now support it.
Relevant markets: Canada
