TheStar.com – Banks to launch debit for online shopping

Big five to introduce Interac service at Internet retailers
Safeguards allow customers to avoid credit-card risks

TYLER HAMILTON
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Canada’s major banks are readying a service that would allow debit-card style payments at the most popular Web retailers, giving teenagers without credit cards and other credit-wary consumers another way to participate in the online economy

The service, called Interac Online, will make it possible for Internet consumers to purchase their favourite goods and services by transferring money directly out of their online bank accounts during the course of a transaction.

One might call them “Webit” transactions. At a Web retailer’s virtual checkout counter, customers simply click on an “Interac Online” option and are directed to their existing online banking account, where they’ll be asked to log in to the bank’s secure site.

After confirming details and finally approving the transaction, customers are sent back to the Web retailer’s site where the product purchase is acknowledged as complete. The retailer collects no personal information from the customer during the process, meaning less risk of privacy leaks or abuses.

The Royal Bank of Canada, which is currently testing the Interac Online system, is expected to be the first bank to offer the service to its online customers, likely toward the end of this month. The Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal are expected to follow in June and July, respectively.

Toronto Dominion Bank will join later in the year and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is slated to be added to the group in early 2006.

Sara Feldman, vice-president of marketing at the Interac Association, said it’s likely the first time in the world that a country’s major banks have come together to launch a debit-style online payment system.

“This is a multi-bank option with multiple merchants, and it offers broad access (to online consumers),” Feldman said. “In that sense, we think we are a first, though there may be other variations elsewhere in the world.”

Canada has a long history of retail banking firsts, and Canadian consumers are well recognized as leaders in online banking and debit-card use. More recently, Canadian banks led the world when they introduced email money transfers, allowing individuals and small businesses to move money through email.

It’s estimated that at least three out of 10 Canadians do their banking online. According to a survey by Toronto-based The Strategic Counsel, more than 22 million Canadians used their banking card to perform a debit transaction in 2004.

Furthermore, more than a quarter of Canadians said they performed five or more debit transactions each week, contributing to a total of 2.7 billion transactions in 2004.

“Debit on the Web sounds really cool, given our propensity to adopt debit cards,” said Jamie Sharp, a financial services analyst with IDC Canada Ltd. in Toronto. “The nice thing about it, from a parent and risk liability point of view, is you can basically draw down just what’s in the account, whereas with a credit card you’ve got that whole credit limit to play with.”

Feldman said consumers tend to use their debit cards when purchases range from $10 to $75. Beyond $100 the credit card becomes a preferred choice of payment. But in the online world, credit cards are the most popular and usually only option.

Kevin Tait, a spokesperson for Moneris Solutions Inc., said the cost of the service to online retailers will be “in line” with other types of retail and online transaction services.

Canadians should start seeing the country’s leading retailers offering the option “within the next few weeks,” he said.

Additional articles by Tyler Hamilton