Focus On Canada's Payments System Heats Up

In 2009 and 2010, Canada's payments systems underwent remarkable scrutiny and was the subject of a host of changes. Parliamentary and senate hearings were held; the Competition Commissioner considered credit card duality in Canada; the Competition Bureau considered competition in Canada's debit landscape; and the federal government implemented regulatory measures and a voluntary code of conduct to address disclosure and other practices in Canada's payment systems and launched the Task Force for the Payments System Review (the "Task Force").

After the dust settled, relatively little change occurred in 2011. The Task Force's release of its July 2011 discussion papers was merely a precursor to its final report, which was submitted to the federal government in December 2011 and was released to the public on March 23, 2012.