Mastercard today announced it will continue to reduce its overall interchange rates for consumer credit cards in Canada, helping to lower costs for small and medium sized businesses.

As part of a new voluntary five-year commitment with the Government of Canada, Mastercard will lower its annual average effective interchange rate to 1.4 per cent. These changes will begin in May 2020, once the current voluntary commitment expires, and will result in lower interchange rates for merchants across the country.

In 2014, Mastercard signed a voluntary five-year agreement with the Government of Canada to reduce interchange rates beginning in 2015. Since then, its commitment has delivered lower rates to over 700,000 businesses across the country and about $1 billion back to the business community. In 2016, the Federal Government acknowledged Mastercard had met its commitment to reduce interchange fees. This included reductions for small and medium sized business and charities. Mastercard again met its commitment in 2017 and 2018.

Mastercard continues to take a fair and balanced approach to further enhance the value of electronic payments for businesses and consumers. For businesses, the value of electronic payment acceptance includes guaranteed payment, increased sales, fraud protection, operating efficiencies and the safety of not handling cash. For consumers, they offer safe and convenient payment options. Consumers can also rest easy knowing they are protected with Mastercard’s Zero Liability policy.

This timeline illustrates Mastercard’s commitment to small business in Canada and more information on interchange can be found here.