Cashless Payments Dominate
Earlier this month Payments Canada released its annual report on payment methods and trends. The report looked at more than 22 billion payment transactions made in 2019 – providing insight on both year-over-year and 5-year trends in Canada. Here are some highlights:
- Electronic payments now account for 77% of total payments volume (an increase from last year)
- Contactless payments grew dramatically, increasing 15% in volume and 20% in value
- Cash payments declined 9%, and is expected to decline steadily
- Canadians continue to adopt new payment options; about 18% of Canadians made in-app purchases, and about 15% of Canadians made purchases using gaming consoles or Internet of Things (IoT) devices
- Corporate cheque volumes declined, but the average value of a corporate cheque increased by about 5%
- Electronic funds transfers (EFTs) represented the largest portion of the total transaction value (52%) of total payments value in 2019
The Pandemic Factor
Payments Canada also updated its survey results on Canadian spending and purchase habits during the pandemic. Here are some notable results:
- 44% of Canadians say COVID-19 has changed their payments preferences to digital and contactless long-term
- 47% report tapping their debit and credit cards more often than pre-COVID, compared to 53% at week five of the pandemic
- 42% are uncomfortable handling cash in general
Don’t Be Left Behind
VoPay’s Payment as a Service (PaaS) solution is designed to allow businesses to utilize local, regional and global payments options through a single open API to meet all their payment needs and meet consumer’s paperless expections. The complexity of moving funds between different providers is all handled by VoPay ensuring a seamless experience for all users.
Available payments services include:
Intelligent EFT / ACH (iQ11): Accept instant bank account verification payments, improve payment speed and reduce NSFs. Learn more.
EFT / ACH: Seamlessly facilitate bank payment processing by connecting to North America’s banking system. Learn more.
Interac e-Transfer for Business: Send thousands of near real-time payments with higher funding limits with just an email. Learn more.
VoPay Instant (Visa Direct): Send money directly to almost any Visa card holder in real-time. Learn more.
