In a recent webinar, Hedging Against Uncertainty: What CFOs need to know in 2012, Kirkland Morris, Vice-President Enterprise Strategy at INTERAC Association shared with the audience the phenomenal rise of Interac® e-Transfers in Canada.
Since 2007, annual dollar volumes sent via Interac e-Transfers (known as Email Money Transfers prior to 2010) steadily increased from $2.21 billion to $6.93 billion (August 2011). Predictably, transaction volumes over the same period share a similar growth pattern. As of August 2011, Canadians made well over 15 million transactions for that financial year — that's the equivalent of one in two Canadians making an e-Transfer.
In part, support from a broad range of financial institutions has helped achieve this success. But the figures are also indicative of the healthy consumer appetite for alternative payments and a strong demonstration that Interac e-Transfer is a preferred and growing payment option amongst Canadians.
During the webinar Morris applauded Canada's progress in migrating away from paper in the consumer payments space, commenting that the "Growth curve for consumer e-payments looks set to continue its steep trajectory, with electronic solutions making further inroads". The electronic solutions Morris refers to include the contactless payment options, driven largely by Near Field Communications (NFC), that are poised to tap into the $90 billion dollars still exchanged each year in cash.
So while some payment options, such as Interac e-Transfers, have established themselves as major players, the market has yet to mature, with consumers, service providers and policy makers continuing to shape the electronic payments landscape. For financial institutions, now is the time for them to be planning their mobile and e-payment strategy, envisioning how their service offering will look like in five years and taking the steps to building the right foundation today.
Central 1 Technology and Payment Services