“This is a big deal,” says Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Small Business (CFIB). “While Canada has had two earlier rounds of negotiated Visa and Mastercard fee reductions, many of the benefits accrued to larger merchants. This announcement focuses attention on small businesses who have very little market power to negotiate lower fees on their own. The reductions are sizable and will provide welcome relief to many small firms.”
Under the deal, small businesses with up to $300,000 in annual Visa sales and $175,000 in annual Mastercard sales will now qualify for an average 0.95% interchange fees for in-store sales and a 0.1% reduction for online transactions. These reductions are expected to save eligible Canadian small businesses approximately $1 billion over five years.
This agreement was originally announced in May as part of the federal…
