We are now approaching one full year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has made me reflect on the journey we have been in on in the last year. The pandemic stretched healthcare systems, disrupted economies, and uprooted businesses across the globe, challenging humanity in unexpected ways. There is no question the impacts of this pandemic are far reaching, as are its lessons – chief among them at Interac Corp. being the importance of resilience. On March 2, Interac held its third Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) where we released our 2020 Corporate Year in Review and shared stories of resiliency from 2020 that led to our successful fiscal year.
With millions of Canadians depending on Interac solutions every day, maintaining business continuity, network stability, and security at the onset of and throughout the pandemic was a priority. Like many organizations, we immediately transitioned all of our employees to work from home, keeping their safety and wellbeing at the forefront of every business decision to ensure they had the support needed to keep our networks and services running smoothly.
With the pace of digital acceleration at an all-time high, we worked strategically to advance our business priorities and continue to power connections in Canada with employees, merchants, consumers, partners and the community. That included continued efforts to modernize our technology to advance the interoperability of our platforms while also making investments to enable new lines of business in the future. We expanded our digital solutions – from making Interac Debit contactless and eCommerce payments more accessible to enhancing our Interac e-Transfer Bulk solution – giving Canadians more control and flexibility. Record usage of Interac e-Transfer occurred this past year, and we saw more than half of Canadians (53 per cent) using Interac Debit in apps and websites more frequently during the pandemic. In fact, we reached a new single day record of 3.9 million Interac e-Transfer transactions sent on December 1, 2020.
We also continued our efforts to architect a future where Interac is a trusted digital value exchange in Canada. We marked our first full year of operations alongside our subsidiary, 2Keys Corporation, since acquiring the national security company. Together we demonstrated our digital ID capabilities and raised awareness of the role we could play in a Canadian digital ID framework – the need for which was accentuated this year. Those efforts, strengthened by our scalable technology platforms and solutions, solidify our leading position in the Canadian payments ecosystem and successfully set us up for long-term sustainable growth.
Understanding that small businesses across the country were hit hard by the impacts of the pandemic and forced to pivot their business in response to government restrictions, we championed our commitment to supporting organizations that improve the communities in which we live and work. At our recent AGM, Interac announced our continued commitment to supporting small business recovery through our support of Canada United and our industry association partners.
None of our successes are possible without the continued resilience and perseverance of our workforce. The wellbeing of our employees remains a top priority as we have continued to expand mental health resources and programs to keep our employees connected during times of isolation. Additionally, as we witnessed tragic racial injustices that showcased the ugly realities of systemic racism, we focused on driving positive change through the launch of a new Equity and Empowerment initiative aimed at combating anti-Black racism and other forms of discrimination within our walls and in our communities.
Although COVID-19 continues to present profound challenges and uncertainties, we will continue to build on our position at the forefront of payments and the evolving digital economy to ensure we meet the changing needs of Canadians.
Interested in learning more about how Interac powers connections in Canada? Read the 2020 Corporate Year in Review.
