The Interac Association has just given Canadian retailers and other small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) two new ways to send and receive money.
On Tuesday, the financial transaction network announced the release of two new services for its e-Transfer platform: an auto-deposit feature that eliminates the need for users to answer a security question before receiving their funds, and the ability to request money from anywhere in Canada.
“Adding these new features to Interac e-Transfer is a major leap forward in digital payments because it gives Canadian consumers and businesses more flexibility, choice, and control, specifically when receiving money,” Interac vice president of online products and platform Peter Maoloni said in an Oct. 31 statement. “Whether you’re paying a supplier, invoicing a customer, splitting a restaurant tab with a friend or asking your roommate for their share of the rent, the new features will help make requesting and receiving money fast and convenient.”
The Request Money feature, true to its name, sends a notification link which recipients can fulfill by clicking on the link and logging into their online or mobile banking account.
The new Auto-deposit feature, meanwhile, replaces the typical security question with a one-time registration, after which users can opt to have e-transfers deposited directly into the bank account they’ve registered.
Interac emphasized the security of both features, which transfer funds through “established banking procedures and multiple layers of security,” according to its statement.
Both the Auto-deposit and Request Money features are now available from Affinity Credit Union, ATB Financial, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and TD Bank Group; and though BMO is not currently offering the Auto-Depisit feature, its business banking users can take advantage of the Request Money feature.
Users can also fill out a request for money and it send to Auto-deposit registered recipients through Affinity, ATB, BMO, RBC, TD, Scotiabank, and CIBC and its new Simplii Financial direct banking division.