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Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is expected to introduce a voluntary code of conduct for payment card issuers after meetings with payments industry companies, according to Canadian press reports. Flaherty was finalizing the code of conduct, which would address the priority routing of debit transactions over Visa Inc.'s and MasterCard Worldwide's networks, the use of cards that have both debit and credit functions, and increased transparency concerning rates and fees, the Toronto Star newspaper reported last week. However, Flaherty will not impose caps on fees, the report says. MasterCard Canada is "not in a position to speculate on what Minister Flaherty may or not be planning," a spokesperson said in an e-mail statement. A Visa spokesperson also declined to comment until the minister publishes the document.
