Interac’s Flat-Fee Flip + Record to Report (RTR) Momentum: Who Pays, Who Wins, Who Bleeds?

Canada’s payment rails are shifting under your feet and two immediate moves could negatively impact your business right now:

1. Interac e-Transfer is moving to a flat-fee wholesale model on Nov 1, 2025, and Interac Direct Payment (debit) assessment fees are rising the same day. Banks and acquirers will pass changes downstream—some transparently, many not. (Interac, TD Bank)

2. Payments Canada’s RTR is heating up with fresh guidance and public consultation feedback signaling industry readiness. Translation: real-time Account-to-Account (A2A) payments (with day-one fraud controls) are getting close enough to change behaviour. (Fintech Global, Payments Canada, The Paypers)

Layer on the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) — Bank of Canada’s supervision of Payment Service Providers (PSPs) takes effect September 8, 2025 — and you’ve got a compliance landscape that will punish the unprepared and reward operators who move first. (Reuters)

Why this matters (and where margin leaks)

• Interac e-Transfer pricing shift: Flat wholesale fees paid by Financial Institutions break the old volume-based model. Expect new pass-throughs or “platform fees” in business accounts, especially for high-usage SMBs that previously benefited from  low effective rates under volume tiers. If your bank changes the small print, your unit economics can swing overnight. (Interac)

• Interac IDP assessment increase (Nov 1): Pennies per transaction compound into meaningful basis-point creep at scale—particularly for high-ticket grocery, fuel, hospitality and professional services that have higher debit volumes. Watch your November/December statements. (TD Bank)

• RTR coming into view: Real-time irrevocable payments + centralized fraud service = lower scheme fees, faster cash, different fraud vectors. Ignore it and you’ll keep paying card-network tolls while competitors shift recurring and B2B flows to A2A. (Payments Canada, The Paypers)

• RPAA supervision: PSPs you rely on (gateways, wallets, pay-ins/out platforms) are now under BoC oversight. That’s good for resilience—but expect new compliance costs that some providers will quietly pass on to merchants. (Reuters)

Risk zones we’re seeing

• Silent fee inflation: Banks/acquirers “harmonize” plans post-Nov 1; you absorb blended fees without clear pre/post disclosure. (TD Bank)

• Contract traps: Evergreen auto-renewals + “network pass-through” clauses eliminate your negotiating leverage right when fees change.

• Operational whiplash: Real-Time-Rails (RTR) adoption requires KYC/AML, fraud rules, and reconciliation changes and compliance. If Finance and Ops aren’t aligned, failed payments and write-offs could spike significantly. (Payments Canada)

• Compliance drag: RPAA documentation and third-party risk assessments become table stakes for enterprise RFPs; vendors who are not compliant put your acceptance at risk. (Reuters)

Business upside if you move now

• Card-cost deflection: Shift eligible recurring/bill-pay and B2B payment flows to upcoming RTR rails to reduce scheme fees and chargeback exposure. (The Paypers)

• Debit optimization: Re-price checkout to nudge Interac where appropriate; monitor assessment line items monthly to keep effective rates in line. (TD Bank)

• Negotiation window: Use Nov 1 Interac changes + RTR readiness as leverage to re-paper acquirer/bank agreements with hard caps on pass-throughs and true-up audits. (TD Bank, Payments Canada)

• CPO-grade governance: Map RPAA-impacted vendors now; require attestations and incident-response SLAs so you’re not learning about compliance gaps during an outage. (Reuters)

What to do this week (fast, practical, defensible)

1. Pull last 6 months of statements; baseline Interac IDP and e-Transfer costs; flag any “network fee” lines with November effective dates. (TD Bank)

2. Demand pre-change disclosures from your bank/acquirer in writing for Nov 1 impacts; ask for a fee-increase veto clause or offset. (TD Bank)

3. RTR readiness check with your gateway/Payment Service Provider (PSP): API timelines, fraud service integration, settlement windows, and dispute workflows. Keep a pilot lane ready. (Payments Canada)

4. Vendor RPAA attestations: Confirm registration/supervision status and what it changes in SLAs, data handling, and incident comms. (Reuters)

5. Revenue defense plan: Re-route bill-pay, invoices, and high-value B2B transactions to A2A as pilots; measure cost deltas vs. cards. (The Paypers)

The Expense Defence CPO Advantage

We turn rail changes, rulebooks, and fine print into measurable savings and lower risk. Our team benchmarks your costs, renegotiates contracts, hardens compliance, and designs RTR/A2A pilots that actually improve cash flow. Want us to run the playbook for you? Let’s audit your statements and vendor stack now—before November hits.

Merchant Fee Impact Example: Grocery Store vs. Professional Services

Let’s make this real.

• Mid-sized grocery store

  • Average monthly 60,000 debit transactions at $45 average ticket = $2.7M in Interac volume.

  • Current Interac assessment = $0.01/txn → $600/month.

  • Post-Nov 1 increase to $0.015/txn → $900/month.

  • Net hit: +$300/month, $3,600/year just from assessment creep — before acquirer markups.

• Professional services firm

  • Average monthly 1,500 debit transactions at $200 average ticket = $300K in volume.

  • Current assessment = $15/month.

  • Post-Nov 1 = $22.50/month.

  • Looks small, but that 50% lift on network pass-through fees is often bundled with “other services” line items — meaning the actual increase on statements could be $50–$100/month once the dust settles.

For enterprises running hundreds of thousands of Interac transactions monthly, the deltas land in five-figure territory annually — all without a single incremental sale. That’s margin leakage that Expense Defence’s CPO Advantage exists to detect and shut down.

Sources: Interac pricing update & fee pages; TD fee change summary; Payments Canada RTR consultation & industry guidance; PSP supervision timelines (BoC/RPAA). (Interac, TD Bank, Payments Canada, The Paypers, Reuters)