Central 1 has experienced its busiest ever end-of-month period for Interac e-Transfer® transaction processing as Canadians increasingly choose digital payment options during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
During the most recent end of month period, Central 1 processed 1.8 million Interac e-Transfer transactions on behalf of Canadian credit unions and other financial institutions, totalling almost $760 million. This achievement demonstrates not only Central 1’s ability to handle the increased demand for Interac e-Transfer transactions, but also our continued expertise in the payments arena, where we’ve settled billions of dollars in payments every month for the Canadian credit union system for the past 25 years. It also comes on the back experiencing an almost 50 per cent year-over-year increase in the number of Interac e-Transfer transactions we’ve processed in the first six months since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
The end of month tally includes 478,000 transactions (totalling $247 million) processed in one day (December 1) – the highest-ever number of Interac e-Transfer transactions our payments team has processed in the 10 years since Central 1 began offering the Interac e-Transfer service.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Central 1 was already seeing significant growth in Canadians’ use of Interac e-Transfer transactions and other types of electronic payments. However, pandemic restrictions have undoubtedly accelerated the shift from paper to digital payments. I’m glad to say we have been supporting this growth with no impact to system performance, all while much of our workforce is working remotely. This is heartening as Central 1 ramps up its payments modernization strategy which is designed to position the credit union system and financial services industry for growth, innovation, and to put our payments clients at the forefront of Canada’s digital payments future.
Central 1’s partnership with Interac Corp means that Interac e-Transfer services are available to financial institutions across Canada through Central 1’s Forge and MemberDirect® digital banking platforms, as well as through API integration on other digital banking platforms, allowing millions of Canadians around the country to benefit from our efficient and secure payments services.
If you have any questions about any of Central 1’s payments products or services, or our payments modernization strategy, feel free to reach out to my team.
