TORONTO - Interac Corp. says it has launched a new offering that gives Canadians more ways to pay for online purchases including directly through their bank account.
The company says the Konek payment solution is gradually being rolled out with Staples.ca as its first client, while for customers, access is limited for now to those who bank at BMO, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank or TD Canada Trust.
The option allows shoppers to pay through their debit or credit cards, or directly from their chequing, savings or line of credit accounts.
Purchases through bank accounts or a line of credit are being done through Interac Direct, which it says is a new digital payments solution with lower merchant fees.
Interac says it created the option in collaboration with Canadian financial institutions to offer more choices in how people pay online, while also lowering cart abandonment.
Kris Zanuldin, head of Konek, says in a statement that it offers a secure, homegrown alternative to international e-commerce payment solutions.
@[email protected] @[email protected] I remember you, among others, were calling for Canadian payment processors, this sounds like an appropriate solution!
How is this better than what already exist?
It will be good for merchants who want to pay lower fees than they currently do to Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Stripe, et cetera. All of these are American companies as well so customers and merchants can keep more money in Canada. On the outset to me, it kind of sounds like Interac e-transfer reconstituted into secure e-commerce transactions.
Almost sounds like fintech similar to what one might see in Singapore in their NETS system. I think this Konek system is designed to give Canadians an alternative payment system independent of Visa and Mastercard, while offering businesses and customers reduced transaction rates.
