Credit and debit card use in Canada, in tandem with other e-payments, have generated almost 25 per cent of the country’s economic growth since 1983, according to Visa
Jun 25 2004 : Electronic payments contributed CDN 107 billion to Canada’s economy between 1983 and 2003, and accounted for almost 25 per cent of economic growth in the period, according to a new study by Visa Canada. In short, e-payments benefit national economies by increasing transactional efficiencies and payment channels, and in Canada, accounted for the CDN 60 billion growth in personal spending by Canadians, with credit cards contributing 82 per cent, and debit cards, 17 per cent. Over the past decade, e-payments have taken a near-50 per cent share of the consumer payments pie, up from about 20 per cent.
By 2008, commercial e-payments, including p-cards, EFT, data interchange and wire transfers, are predicted to increase from 14 per cent, to 34 per cent, with a correlating decrease in check payments from 84 per cent, to 65 per cent. Operational efficiency drives will prompt corporations to use electronic technologies for over one-third of commercial transactions by 2008, including e-mail, e-marketplaces, B2B portals and e-procurement exchanges.
Paper invoice use by Canadian firms will decline from 90 per cent of all invoices received in 2003, to 65 per cent by 2008. Internet-based invoice delivery and EDI-based billing will respectively account for 14 per cent of all invoices by 2008, up from 2 per cent in 2003. In 2003, 84 per cent of commercial payments were made by paper check, while 25 per cent of firms responding to Visa’s survey, knew the cost of using a purchase order was about CDN 75. With the average Canadian firms moving CDN 28 million in goods and services annually, e-payments promise massive savings in processing and management costs.
IT Business Canada
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