Visa Raises Canada Small-Merchant Interchange Threshold to $750k; Mastercard Unchanged

Visa Widens Small-Merchant Rate Access in Canada; Mastercard Holds Its Line

Visa is extending its discounted small-merchant interchange rate to Canadian businesses with up to $750,000 in annual Visa sales, effective October 24, 2026 — more than doubling the $300,000 annual Visa sales threshold that had defined the programme since it was established under the Government of Canada's 2023 interchange agreements. Mastercard is making no equivalent move: its small-merchant programme threshold remains at $175,000 in annual Mastercard sales.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) welcomed the Visa expansion in a statement issued October 14, 2026, but warned that new credit card fees were emerging on the horizon — a caveat that tempers the otherwise positive news for smaller operators.

Background: The 2023 Agreements

The current framework dates to December 5, 2023, when the Government of Canada announced finalised agreements with both Visa and Mastercard to reduce credit card interchange fees for small businesses. Under those agreements, qualifying businesses became eligible for reductions of up to 27% from existing interchange rates. The federal government marked the practical commencement of those reductions at an announcement in Hamilton, Ontario on October 17, 2024.

The 2023 agreements also protected reward points offered to Canadian consumers by Canada's large banks — a provision designed to prevent cost savings at the merchant level from being clawed back through reduced cardholder benefits.

At the time those agreements were struck, CBC News reported that Visa had agreed to lower the average interchange fee it charges on its cards in Canada to under 1% — a commitment made in the context of the 2023 framework and distinct from the 2026 threshold expansion announced this week.

More than 90% of credit card-accepting businesses in Canada were reported to qualify for the lower rates under those original agreements, according to the Government of Canada.

How Interchange Works

As the CFIB notes, small businesses pay interchange fees every time a customer pays by credit card; those fees flow to the bank that issued the customer's card. The level of the applicable interchange rate therefore has a direct bearing on per-transaction costs for businesses that accept card payments.

What Changes on October 24, 2026

Visa's decision to raise its small-merchant annual sales threshold from $300,000 to $750,000 in annual Visa sales brings a materially larger cohort of Canadian businesses within reach of the discounted rate for Visa-branded transactions.

For the businesses newly brought within Visa's expanded threshold — those whose annual Visa sales fall between $300,000 and $750,000 — the change translates into a direct reduction in per-transaction costs for Visa-branded payments, according to CFIB and Newswire reporting on the October 2026 announcement.

For Canadian small businesses whose annual Visa sales fall between $300,000 and $750,000 — the band newly brought within Visa's expanded threshold — the Visa change translates into a direct reduction in per-transaction costs for Visa-branded payments. The Mastercard equivalent programme, with its $175,000 annual Mastercard sales threshold, remains unchanged.

CFIB's Qualified Welcome

The CFIB's October 14, 2026 statement was explicitly two-sided. While the organisation welcomed Visa's expansion of the lower interchange rate to a broader group of small businesses, it simultaneously flagged that new credit card fees were approaching — though the specific nature, size, and timeline of those fees were not detailed in the primary source material reviewed for this article.

It remains to be seen whether the CFIB or federal officials will publicly press Mastercard on its unchanged threshold.

Why It Matters

The divergence between Visa and Mastercard on threshold expansion is the sharpest editorial takeaway from the October 2026 development. Both networks operate under the same overarching Government of Canada framework negotiated in 2023, yet they are applying its small-merchant provisions differently. Businesses that accept both networks — as most card-accepting merchants do — will now navigate a split landscape: broader Visa relief for those with higher annual card volumes, and an unchanged Mastercard ceiling that leaves a portion of the market without equivalent relief on Mastercard-branded transactions. The CFIB's concurrent warning about new fees suggests the overall cost calculus for small businesses may shift again before the benefits of either network's current commitments are fully absorbed.