A Message to Canadian Merchants from the President of MasterCard Canada:

At MasterCard, we fully appreciate the impact that the transition to chip will have on merchants.

We are managing this transition with a customer-friendly, business-like approach that accounts for your needs and priorities. Our goal is to minimize your costs in switching to chip.

That’s why MasterCard doesn’t require merchants to shift to chip acceptance by a set date. Instead, we have partnered with industry to create a logical, cost-effective transition. Thanks to this approach, the majority of MasterCard^® cards in market by 2010 will be chip-capable.

The first phase of chip transition is well underway and includes getting the acceptance, processing and issuing infrastructure in place. Hudson’s Bay Company and Canadian Tire have already announced that they have begun to gear up to introduce chip cards across the Canadian market. The readiness of these leading retailers signals the significant progress towards preparing our marketplace for chip.

We’re eager to work with you, answer your questions and demonstrate how you can become chip-ready efficiently.

Please feel free to contact any member of the MasterCard chip team or me.

Kevin Stanton
President, MasterCard Canada