MARKHAM, ON, June 25, 2020 – As we enter into week 15 of these unprecedented times, we wanted to assure you that despite the recent volatility experienced by the Canadian financial services system, including significant contractions in consumer spending activities and financial transaction volumes seen, particularly during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Everlink’s business operations continue to operate normally and effectively across all departments.

Recently, the Ontario government announced its decision and plans to “re-open” various cities and regions within Ontario in stages. While Everlink continues to monitor all relevant government return to workplace guidelines, we will also continue to execute and adhere to our own Business Continuity protocols by maintaining remote work practices for the foreseeable future. The health and safety of our staff, clients and partners remains our top priority.

Everlink recognizes the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Canadian financial services system, including our credit union and bank clients. As various levels of government first implemented “essential services” and “social distancing” mandates as well as public facilities and retail store closures in mid-March, Everlink has had a front seat view to changes in cardholder payment behaviour and the impact to our clients’ POS and ATM transaction volumes. To assist our clients to better understand recent consumer transaction trends, we take this opportunity to share some insights from our perspective as a payments processor. Although we saw a significant decrease in the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the good news is that POS and ATM volumes have been steadily improving, particularly over the last few weeks.

The following statistics represent Everlink’s observations, baselined against the week ending March 14th, 2020, which was the last “normal” period of transaction volumes before government mandates for self-isolation and store closures took effect. Please note, this data is reflective of domestic debit card transactions only, as cross-border volumes continue to be severely impacted by cross-border travel restrictions and the general downturn in all out-of-country travel patterns. The milestones below show the stark contrast between transaction volumes at its lowest period during the COVID-19 pandemic (week ending March 28th, 2020) when store closure rates were at their highest, versus the most current data points from week ending June 20th, 2020 as government measures began to relax.

From this data, we can see that POS and ATM debit card transaction volumes are currently trending upwards again, particularly in eCommerce (co-badged and Interac Online Debit) and contactless POS (both Interac Flash® and Mobile Interac Debit), as more services begin to reopen to the public. The rise in eCommerce (co-badged and Interac Online Debit), Interac Flash® and Mobile Interac Debit transactions may also be an indicator of our “new reality” going forward as retailers and consumers alike choose contactless payments as a preferred/safer payment method when they shop. The related trend, as further supported by significantly reduced ATM withdrawal data, is that we may be witnessing an accelerated demise of the use of cash as consumers opt for non-touch, electronic payments methods. Consumer choice regarding preferred payment methods may be exaggerated by COVID-19, but the likelihood of a return to pre-COVID-19 usage data is low – as consumers become increasingly comfortable shopping via e-commerce and using contactless/mobile electronic payments methods, it’s very unlikely there will be any turning back.

For further information, please contact your Everlink Account Executive to discuss opportunities or all matters relating to services provided by Everlink.

Everlink Payment Services Inc. is a leading provider of comprehensive, innovative and integrated payments solutions and services for credit unions, banks, and SMEs across Canada. In addition to supplying best‐in-breed technology infrastructure and payment network connectivity, we offer a comprehensive range of integrated payments Lines of Business including: Payment Network Gateway, ATM Managed Services, Card Issuance & Management, Fraud Management Solutions, Mobile Payments, Professional Services and SME Solutions.

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