Canadians used digital money transfer service Interac e-Transfer more than one million times per day last year.

In a news release on Tuesday, Interac said it experienced record numbers in 2018 – more than 371 million transactions worth a total of more than $132 billion, representing a 54 per cent increase in volume and a 45 per cent increase in value over 2017.

“The continued adoption and significant year-over-year growth of Interac e-Transfer demonstrates Canadians’ preference for convenient digital money transfer services like Interac e-Transfer as an alternative to cash or cheque,” said Anurag Kar, director of digital push payments at Interac, in a statement.

“As the payment landscape evolves, we will continue to deliver solutions to suit the changing needs of consumers and businesses across Canada.”

The service was used on average over one million times a day and over 35 million times each month with the average user sending over three transactions per month, with an average transaction size of $357.

Interac also said:

• 80 per cent of Canadians using online banking are registered to use Interac e-Transfer, with over 15 million unique active users every month;
• Nov. 30 was the platform’s single busiest day, with over two million transactions sent;
• Almost 76 per cent of Interac e-Transfer transactions are deposited on a mobile device;
• Over four million users are registered for Autodeposit, a feature that enables funds to go directly into a recipient’s bank account without the need to answer a security question;
• The Request Money feature, which allows Canadians to request money from a recipient, was used nearly one million times;
• Businesses sent over $465 million using our Interac e-Transfer Bulk Disbursement feature – allowing businesses to send bulk payments in a streamlined, secure, and cost-efficient way in a single file upload from online or mobile banking.

– Mario Toneguzzi

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