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Dive Brief
A Canadian trade group has urged card networks to reduce their interchange fees and pass those cost savings on to sellers.
Published Oct. 21, 2026
Dive Brief:
- Starting Oct. 24, Canadian small businesses will pay lower interchange fees to accept Visa credit card payments, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said in a press release on Wednesday. Visa is cutting interchange fees for companies generating up to CA$750,000 ($534,000) in annual Visa sales, according to the release.
- Nonetheless, the card network giant also plans to increase other fees charged to processors that are typically passed onto merchants, adding a 1.8 cent increase to all domestic transactions in Canada, starting next April, the federation said in the release.
- “This is a big win for many small businesses that will now qualify for Visa's special, lower interchange rate,” CFIB President Dan Kelly said in the release. “Sadly, there are new credit card processing fees on the horizon as well.”
Dive Insight:
Back in 2024, San Francisco-based Visa and Purchase, New York-based Mastercard entered into an agreement with the Canadian government agency to reduce interchange fees for small businesses. The reduced interchange rates, under that pact, was for businesses with sales below CA$300,000 when it came to Visa’s fees, and for those with sales below CA$175,000 with respect to Mastercard fees.
While Visa expanded the program to decrease the interchange fee for more small merchants this month, Mastercard is not changing its program parameters under the pact, per the release. The federation pressed Mastercard to follow its larger rival in expanding the program.
"For two decades, CFIB has been pushing for fairer credit card fees for small businesses,” CFIB executive vice president for advocacy, Corinne Pohlmann, said in the release. “We're glad to see Visa include more small merchants, and we are calling on Mastercard and other card brands to do the same."
Spokespeople for Visa and Mastercard didn’t immediately comment on the changes.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents small businesses, has been pushing the government and payment providers to require more credit card providers to participate in its rate-reduction initiative, reassess size limits and secure savings for sellers.
With respect to the added processor fees, Mastercard started charging the new fee to card processors last week, and Visa will do the same beginning in April 2027, the release said.