Visa, one of the world’s leaders in digital payments, has announced its participation in the Canadian expansion of instant transfers, Square’s solution for rapid merchant settlement.
Square’s instant transfers allow businesses to access their funds quicker than the next business day, typically the current default setting for Canadian businesses. With instant transfers, Square merchants can link an eligible debit card and start transferring funds instantly to an external bank account with the click of a button.
“Cash flow management and more immediate access to funds is critical for small businesses to survive and thrive in a rapidly evolving payments ecosystem,” said Jim Filice, VP and Head of New Payments, Visa Canada. “Together with Square, we’re committed to supporting Canadian small businesses and helping to identify solutions that can benefit them by delivering fast, reliable and secure access to funds.”
Getting paid quickly is key for small businesses especially after navigating the challenges of a global pandemic and evolving for the much-changed landscape. About 44% of Canadian small business owners said real-time access to cash flow was important in keeping their business afloat in the wake of COVID-19. As the country recovers, over half (53%) of Canadian small business owners say their business is still recovering.
Even pre-pandemic, the ability to optimize cash flow was critical to the success of small businesses. The majority (79%) of small businesses have cited wanting faster settlement and 81% said they would pay to have this benefit.[7] In addition, 85% of small business respondents indicated they would switch to a new merchant acquirer who offered real-time payments.[8] Square is solving these needs leveraging Visa Direct to offer real-time deposits to their customers.
“Swift and secure access to money is as important for small businesses as it is to consumers,” said Christina Riechers, Head of Product, Business Banking Team at Square. “In a changing and increasingly digitized payments landscape, businesses should be able to access their money as soon as they make a sale, and we’re proud to bring that experience to sellers across Canada in collaboration with Visa.”
Square’s instant transfers feature is enabled by the power and ubiquity of Visa’s network, which helps enable secure, convenient, real-time funds delivery to eligible Visa card holder account credentials.