Interac Acceptance in the U.S. EMV for Merchants February 2015

Introduction Interac is Canada's leading payment brand with 56% of all payment card transactions made using Interac debit cards. With 34 million people and 36 million debit cards in circulation, Canada has one of the highest per capita usages of debit in the world and 25 years after its founding, Interac is the leading card brand in Canada. Interac is now working to expand its acceptance in the U.S.

U.S. Acceptance of Interac Today, Interac is accepted at any merchant that accepts NYCE. From a merchant perspective, Interac transactions look and act like a transaction from a NYCE card and is often the most cost effective payment option for the merchant. The cost of Interac is one half to one third of the wholesale rate of alternative payment choices (International debit and credit). Merchants benefit from guaranteed funds, no chargebacks and zero liability. In addition, merchants gain access to new customers that have a high affinity for using their Interac debit cards.

Interac and EMV in the U.S. The U.S. migration to EMV presents a challenge for Interac. With EMV, a transaction can only be processed as an EMV transaction if the terminal supports the AID on the card. If the terminal does not support the AID on the card, the cardholder will receive a message such as “Application Not Supported” and be prompted to swipe their card. This not only results in losing the benefit of the anti-counterfeit fraud features of EMV, it is no longer the optimal cardholder experience that merchants desire for their valued customers. To get the full benefit of Interac and EMV, supporting Interac can no longer just be a function of including the Interac IINs (Issuer Identification Numbers) in the Vantiv routing tables as a NYCE partner. To make the acceptance of Interac EMV cards as seamless as possible, Interac is taking a number of steps including: • Harmonizing requirements with US EMV implementations • Ensuring major terminal vendors and ISVs understand the changes to the Interac POS application required for the U.S. • Hard work is already done for many vendors as their applications are already certified for use in Canada • Modifications for the U.S. market are not major and there aren’t many • Assisting U.S. Acquirers with • Interac terminal application development and integration • Interac certification • Interac certification test suites for use in the U.S. are already available from test tool vendors including Vantiv’s VIABLE partner, ICC Solutions

Frequently Asked Questions Q. How will this be applicable to the average merchant? A. If a merchant is located near the Canadian border or is in a market with high cross border activity, Interac will be an important option for merchants to offer their customers. All merchants should consider supporting Interac to ensure a smooth and consistent POS experience for Interac Debit cardholders.

Q. Can any merchant accept Interac with EMV? A. Any merchant can accept Interac with EMV, but the implementation of Interac acceptance will vary based upon the merchant’s payment solution.

Q. Does it mean that Vantiv can process in Canada? A. Interac acceptance gives U.S. merchants the ability to offer their customers another payment option. It does not change Vantiv’s processing status in Canada.

Q. What percentage of Canadian transactions are Interac? A. 54% of card payments in Canada are made using Interac.