Saturday June 3, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated June 4, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
COMING UP: Bank of Canada Deputy-Governor will address the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce in Victoria, June 8.
There were some technical issues with Interac e-transfer services on Thursday June 1. Essentially, the services were unavailable for up to 24 hours that day.
The online web services provider said on Friday June 2: “Interac has resolved issues to the Interac e-Transfer service which created temporary service interruptions at some financial institutions,” said Interac media rep Fiona Bang. “We can confirm that the service is now operating normally; we apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience,” she wrote in a statement to Island Social Trends.
We asked, but Interac did not specify as to the problem possibly resulting from the performance of software, hardware or personnel.
This sort of interruption may not have been high-profile across the country. But for the small businesses and individuals who were trying to do their online web-banking for paying landlords on the first of the month, or suppliers for payments due, this had an impact on timeliness of payments, automated receipt of payment advisories, and having to perhaps pay additional fees to somehow get transactions otherwise done on time.
In addition to the brief statement from Interac, at least one financial institution — the TD Bank — has confirmed this Interac service issue within their system and noted it was an interruption that impacted other financial institutions as well. TD was advised by Interac that the issue was resolved on June 1 around 5 pm Eastern Time.
Meanwhile, the issues did persist in the Pacific time zone for a few hours beyond that.
Interac has become integral to the economy:
One aspect of this episode is a reminder of the degree to which the usual functioning of the economy has become dependent on using online banking services. This also includes point-of-sale in the retail sector using debit cards.
Interac clearly identifies “consumers and businesses” as their key customer base, as seen at the top of their website.
“As consumers adapt to new technology, so does Interac. Online banking, mobile payments and other innovative offerings have helped redefine not only the ways Canadians do business, but also how they live their lives,” is a statement on the Interac website.
Prominent payment system:
In August 2020 the Bank of Canada designated Interac e-transfer as “a prominent payment system“. This brings Bank oversight to this payment system and ensures it remains a safe, viable and effective method of payment for Canadians, as stated by the Bank of Canada.
“Interac e‑Transfer has become central to the Canadian payments system,” said the Bank of Canada in 2020. The central bank reported that in the 2019 fiscal year, the Interac system facilitated over 486 million transactions, totalling $169 billion. “A disruption or failure of the Interac e‑Transfer system could cause a significant adverse effect on economic activity in Canada, potentially leading to a general loss of confidence in the overall Canadian payments system,” the bank stated.
The Interac e‑Transfer system is operated by Interac Corp. Launched in 2003, Interac e‑Transfer enables individuals and businesses with a Canadian bank account at participating financial institutions to electronically send or receive payments within Canada—24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is professional regional journalism at islandsocialtrends.ca. Fully online as a daily news portal since mid-2020, Island Social Trends emerged from the path of previous print publications in the west shore: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Since 2008, journalist and editor Mary P Brooke has taken a socioeconomic lens to reporting and analyzing the news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island region, including BC and national news impacts. [See Island Social Trends Politics Archive]. She has covered the details of local, provincial and federal elections since 2008. As of 2023 Mary P Brooke reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Mary P Brooke has also focused on news of School District 62 (Langford, Colwood and Sooke) at the board level since 2014 [see Island Social Trends Education archive] and has covered West Shore Parks & Recreation over the years (particularly the transitional years of 2014-2020). During 2020 and 2021 she reported daily on BC’s COVID pandemic news to build the ongoing COVID pandemic archive. Since 2021 she has been building a Food Security news archive. In the dot-com era (in the early 2000s) Mary’s company founded and operated an online service business.
Watch for the renewed print edition of Island Social Trends (formerly West Shore Voice News) in summer 2023. Advertisers welcome – inquiries. | How to be a Premium Subscriber