TORONTO — Walmart Canada says it will no longer accept Visa at any of its stores in Manitoba starting next month, as the battle over merchant fees rages on between the retail giant and the credit company.
The change will come into effect at all 16 locations in the province as of Oct. 24. Walmart will continue to accept cash, debit, MasterCard and American Express cards.
In June, Walmart pledged that it would stop accepting Visa at its more than 400 Canadian stores, arguing that it unfairly pays more than $100 million in fees annually for customers using credit cards.
But the retailer took only a small step toward fulfilling that promise when it dropped the credit card from its three locations in Thunder Bay, Ont., on July 18.
Walmart spokesman Alex Roberton said the retailer is singling out Visa because its fees are higher than its rivals.
He refuted the idea that the decision is due to attempts to promote the usage of Walmart's own branded MasterCard.
"The reason why we're doing it is because the fees are too high," said Roberton.
"Visa is the company we're dealing with right now."
When asked whether Walmart has plans to ban any other credit cards from its stores, he replied that he wasn't going to speculate on what the company will do in the future.
The retailer said that it still plans on doing a nationwide rollout of the Visa ban at its stores, and picked Manitoba after seeing how it impacted its Thunder, Bay, Ont., customers.
"There has been no surprises. Reaction from customers has been better than expected," said Roberton.
He noted that cashiers need to be trained on the change so they can explain it to customers, as well as equipment will need to be reprogrammed before the ban comes into effect.
Visa, the country's largest credit card firm, declined a request for an interview but said in a statement that Walmart's decision to continue with its Visa ban was "disappointing."
"We know from our experience in Thunder Bay that consumers want the option to use the payment method of their choice when shopping — including at Walmart stores," said spokeswoman Carla Hindman in an email.
"Visa remains committed to actively working with Walmart so that Canadians can use their Visa cards wherever they wish to shop."
Previously, Visa had said it had offered Walmart one of the lowest rates for any merchant in the country but the retailer wanted more.
If it had given in, Visa said, Walmart's merchant fees would have been lower than those charged to local grocery markets, pharmacies, convenience stores, charities and schools.
The Retail Council of Canada said it continues to call on Ottawa to intervene to mandate lower fees for all merchants.
The federal government says it is still looking into the issue.
