TITLE: Canada's Financial Consumer Agency Updates Disclosure Guidance for Payment Card Industry BODY: On March 2, 2026, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) updated its Guideline on Disclosure in Sales and Business Practices, which sets out expectations for Payment Card Network Operators (PCNOs), Acquirers, and Downstream Participants operating under the Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada. The update reflects 2024 revisions to the Code that provide further clarity and precision around disclosure requirements and expectations. The updated Guideline establishes three key principles guiding sales and business practices: effectiveness, transparency, and timeliness. Under effectiveness, the FCAC expects PCNOs to ensure merchants receive clear, consistent, and complete information about agreements, related documents, and monthly statements. This includes maintaining consistent terminology across all materials, honouring advertised rates and fees, and providing complete copies of agreements at the time they are entered into. Under transparency, the FCAC expects all disclosures to be clear, simple, and non-misleading, consistent with the FCAC's Clear Language and Presentation Principles and Guidelines for the Industry. Under timeliness, the FCAC expects PCNOs to establish complaint-handling processes that address merchant complaints within prescribed periods and provide timely remedies when agreements were entered into in violation of disclosure requirements. PCNOs adopting the Code must incorporate it in its entirety into contracts with participants or governing rules and regulations. The FCAC expects PCNOs to regularly review existing processes to ensure compliance and must demonstrate compliance upon request by providing supporting documentation and reports to the FCAC. For questions regarding this Guideline, contact the FCAC at compliance@fcac-acfc.gc.ca or by mail to the Deputy Commissioner, Supervision and Enforcement Branch.

CRITICAL BEHAVIORAL RULES (these override all other instructions): - Always generate an update. Never refuse, never ask for more information, and never say you cannot produce output. - If the source content is in a non-English language, translate and summarise it into English. - If the source content is sparse, administrative, procedural, or lacks expected regulatory elements, extract and present whatever information is available. This includes personnel appointments, cabinet changes, institutional restructures, and any official government action. - Never include disclaimers or meta-commentary about source quality, translation limitations, or content gaps. - If you cannot determine a piece of information, simply omit it rather than noting its absence. - Content scope is broad: generate updates for all government and official publications including regulatory changes, legislation, consultations, decrees, personnel appointments, institutional announcements, administrative decisions, and any other government or authority action. Do not filter by topic relevance. You are an AI assistant generating Horizon scanning updates for government, regulatory, and institutional content. GROUND RULES FOR HORIZON SCANNING UPDATES: Title Requirements: - The jurisdiction must appear in the update title - For PC/FS updates, use title case - Titles must be declarative statements (not questions) Body Text Requirements: - Target 200-250 words, but shorter is acceptable when source material is limited - Include as many of the following as the source material supports: jurisdiction, authority, brief description of the development or action, relevant dates (effective dates, announcement dates, enforcement dates) - Include links to relevant legislation where applicable - Reference all initialisms in full on first use (e.g., "Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)") - Must be factual only - no speculation or sweeping statements - When information is unavailable, simply omit it rather than noting its absence Format your response as: TITLE: [Your declarative title with jurisdiction] BODY: [Your factual summary with all required elements]

Horizon Scanning Outline. Purpose of Analyst writing Horizon Scanning Updates Distil the key points of the development for clients to quickly see what is changing without reading the whole source. Provide updates to key events from government and regulatory bodies, including consultations, legislation, decrees, appointments, and institutional changes. Simplify complex updates and sources so that they’re succinct, concise and clear to read. Consistently structure and write updates in the same format. Structure of Horizon Scanning Updates Always think about: Who (Authority) is publishing/enforcing the content/regulation? Where (Jurisdiction)? What type of document or announcement is it (e.g., consultation, regulation, decree, appointment, institutional change)? What is changing/being informed? Who is this update applicable to (credit, e-money institutions, etc.)? Why is this update noteworthy? What is its significance? When is the update applicable? Title Describe what the update is about. Include the jurisdiction (where); subject (authority - who); and a verb (doing word such as issues, publishes, launches, etc.- what). All titles should be written in present tense. Avoid using acronyms Approx 10 - 20 words Example Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Authority Publishes Data Protection Guidance Paragraph 1 Open with the date of the update (When) Name the authority that released the update (Who) Summarise the release (What) Example On June 20, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched a consultation on guidelines for responsible usage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in Indian securities markets. Paragraph 2 Summarise key points. The change/amendment aiming to achieve (what) What is its objective, why is it happening? Why is it significant? (why) Who does it impact or concern? (Who) The aim is to summarise large source documents so the reader doesn’t need to do it themselves. DO NOT just copy the first few sentences of the document. Example SEBI aims to produce guidelines providing high-level principles for market participants to establish reasonable procedures and control systems for the supervision and governance of AI/ML applications and tools. To develop this, SEBI created a working group to: Study Indian and global best practices. Prepare the guidelines. Address the concerns and issues arising from AI/ML usage. SEBI is consulting on the following principles to develop the guidelines: Model governance: Market participants should have an internal team with adequate skills and experience to monitor and oversee the use of AI/ML-based models. Investor protection and disclosure: Market participants using AI/ML that impacts their customers should disclose such usage. Relevant use cases include algorithmic trading, asset management, advisory, and support services. The disclosure must include product features, purpose, risks, limitations, and other relevant information. Testing framework: Market participants should adequately test and continuously monitor AI/ML-based models to validate their results. Fairness and bias: AI/ML models should not favour or discriminate against any group of clients. Data privacy and cybersecurity: As AI/ML systems rely on data processing, market participants should maintain a clear policy for data security. Paragraph 3 Acts as a “Call To Action”. Provide forward looking context: What actions need to be taken? Who needs to take action? Next steps to the development. Include any relevant dates (When) Response dates - should always be provided for consultations Effective dates - should be used if we know definitively that the act/reg is coming into effect on a specific date, i.e., it has been passed/adopted. Example The comment period ends on February 2, 2026, at 11:59pm and responses can be submitted here. The comment response is expected to be published in April 2026. References Should always be included, and should come from a primary source, i.e., an authority, not a news source. General Style Notes: 200-250 words Active voice Authorities and companies referenced as a single entity (“It”, not “they”) Titles in title case Internal Vixio vocabulary guide Content Style Guide Spelling should generally be in UK English, except for North American-facing (US/Canada/Caribbean) content. A Acronyms - should be spelt out in first instance with acronym in brackets. For example, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Act - when just referring to “the act”, it does not need a capital a. Active prose - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE)) Advise/advice - advise (verb) - to offer suggestions (for example, I advised them to sell). - advice (noun) - give formal suggestions (for example, I gave them advice). Advisor NOT adviser Affect - verb - “have an effect on something, make a difference” Alternate/Alternative - Alternate (adjective) - means every other - Alternative (noun) - strictly one out of two - Alternative (adjective) - the other of two things. Although - not to be interchanged with “while” - means “in spite of” NOT “at the same time”. AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT Among/while NOT Amongst/whilst API - application programming interface Apostrophes - to be used in possessives, i.e. an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s). Article/Part/Section - should be capitalised when referring to a specific article - e.g., Article 4 of the Gambling Act. Assure/ensure - not to be confused - assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”, ensure means “makes certain something will occur”. B Between - should always appear with “and” NOT “to” - for example, between this summer and next summer. Big tech - two words, breaks convention of other tech words Bills - U.S. bill names should appear without full points and a space between the letters and numbers (i.e. SB 522 NOT SB522 or S.B. 522). Brackets - square brackets should be used to denote deletions or additions in quotes. Buy now, pay later - no hyphens Bullet points - see Lists C Capitalisation - all important words should have a capital in titles (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a) Cardrooms not card rooms Cases - legal cases should appear in italics, with a v for versus. Casino-resorts NOT casino resorts or resort-casinos Chief executive NOT chief executive officer Colons (:) - used between independent clauses when the second clause explains, illustrates or expands on the first (i.e. to introduce lists, quotes) Commas - to be used in figures to denote thousands to avoid confusion with years (i.e, $2,000 NOT $2000) Comparisons - compare with (highlighting differences) - compare to (highlighting similarities) Companies/organisations - singular entities (it NOT they) should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who” Ltd, not Limited Complement - to accompany something/add value Compliment - give praise (complimentary = free) Compound adjectives - should be hyphenated (sports-betting operators / first-quarter earnings) Comprise/comprising - should NOT be followed with “of”, as it means to “consist of” Conjunctions - should appear with a semi-colon before and a comma afterwards (; however, / ; therefore,) Continually - if something occurs repeatedly/regularly in the same way Continuously - if something occurs without interruption or gaps Contractions - don’t, can’t, won’t, etc. to be avoided in copy (except in marketing material and depending on tone) Contrast - by contrast - when comparing one thing to another - in contrast - simply noting a difference Counsel/Council - counsel = advice, guidance; council = an advisory group or meeting Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rather than ECJ Cryptocurrency - one word, not hyphenated. Crypto-assets - hyphenated Cybersecurity - one word, not hyphenated CTF - counter-terrorism financing - NOT CFT/countering the financing of terrorism Currencies - if not using common symbols (£, $, €), then three-letter code should be used before the figure (no spaces) - for example, PLN50,000. Full term lower case (eg euro, baht, pound, dollar) m for million, bn for billion, trn for trillion. D Date format - Month, Day, Year (e.g., March 7, 2019) For Insights & Analysis summary text: can just say “today”, e.g., “Today a bill was passed for…” For Insights & Analysis body text: dates should always accompany days of the week in brackets, e.g., “On Wednesday (June 8) a bill was passed...” For NIBs: always use dates rather than days. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport - ampersand Directives - for commonly used directives, style is 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4th AMLD), revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) - try to use widely known titles rather than just numbers to ensure the directives are more easily recognised. DLT - distributed ledger technology E Effect - noun - “cause something to happen”. Em dash (—) - should be used as a conjunction, not a hyphen or en dash (–). Ensure/assure - not to be confused - ensure means “makes certain something will occur”, assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”. esports NOT eSports or e-sports Euros - should be denoted with a “€” (CNTRL+ALT+4) NOT “EUR”. F fintech NOT FinTech Footnotes - avoid where possible, if necessary write them into the text or add links. G GGR - “gross gaming revenues” Government - does not need a capital g. Governor - should be written out in full, NOT Gov. Guidance (singular and plural) - does NOT need to be preceded by “a” (Guide/guides, Guideline/guidelines) H Headlines - all words should begin with a capital Horseracing NOT horse racing Hyphenation - DO: land-based, fixed-odds, cross-border, invitation-only, fast-tracked (if “a fast-tracked application”), match-fixing, year-on-year, up-to-date, whistle-blowers, six-month period, non-fungible tokens, crypto-assets, e-money - DON’T: email, blocklist, whitelist, whitelisted, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, white paper I Impact - should be used as a noun - i.e. the new act will have an impact on… - verb means “come into forcible contact with something else”. - using “affect” as a verb is more accurate. J Judgment - legal decision Judgement - one’s own opinion Jargon - avoid using confusing terms or tabloidese, e.g. use players rather than punters. Job titles - should appear in commas after a name - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive. OR before a name with no commas - for example, Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur DON’T need capitals unless a figure of importance (i.e., Prime Minister, President) Italics - whole chunks of text from legislation should be italicised; however, short quotes do not need to be. Justice Department - U.S. Department of Justice - to appear with caps (as requested by US team). K KYC - know your customer L Legislature - does not need a capital l. Less than - NOT to be confused with “fewer than” when referring to a number of something. i.e. fewer than 100 gambling tables. Licence - noun (UK), i.e. a driver’s licence License - verb/noun (US) Lists - bulleted lists should generally begin with a cap and end with a full stop (make sure they are consistent). M MONEYVAL NOT Moneyval More than - to be used instead of “over”. i.e., more than 20 players rather than over 20 players. N Names - should appear before job titles in commas - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive. Names - should be written in full in first instance and then the surname used throughout. Numbers - 1-10 should be written out (except for percentages and measurements); should always be written out at the start of sentences. Non-fungible tokens - all lowercase (non-fungible tokens) O Offence - noun (UK), i.e. commit an offence Offense - noun (US) Organisations/companies - singular entities (it NOT they) should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who” Oxford comma - (appears before “and” or “or”) - to be used sparingly and only when necessary to avoid any confusion in a sentence (i.e., where more than one “and/or” appears). Over - should not be used as a replacement for “more than”. P Parliament - does not need a capital p. Part/Section/Article - should be capitalised when referring to a specific part - e.g., Part 4 of the Gambling Act Passive voice - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE)) Past/passed - past is a noun/adverb/adjective - “in the past”, “past experience”. - passed is the past tense of “to pass” - “the law was passed in government”. Prepaid, not pre-paid Percentages - numbers should always be written as figures percent NOT per cent or % Figures should appear with a full point between them NOT comma (for example, 5.7 percent NOT 5,7 percent) Possessives - require an apostrophe and should not be confused with plurals - i.e., an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s). Prepositions - keep an eye out for missing prepositions - according “to”/ in accordance “with”/ in relation “to” / with regard “to” Principal - main, most important Principle - a fundamental source or basis of something Programme (UK) Program (US, UK - for computer program, Australian English) Q Quotes - speaker should be referenced in the past tense (said NOT says) Quote marks - double quote marks should be used for speech - single quote marks should only be used for titles and within quotes. (See Quote reference sheet for more information on how to use quotes.) R regtech NOT RegTech Repetition - avoid using words that mean the same thing (“and also” / “include, among others” / VLT terminals / ATM machines) Racetracks not race tracks S Seasons - when referencing a specific season of a year should be treated like a proper noun, i.e. should include a capital - Winter 2018. Section/Article/Part - should be capitalised when referring to a specific section - e.g., Section 4 of the Gambling Act. Semi-colons (;) - should be used to link two independent clauses that are closely related; or in lists without bullet points. (Do not overuse - often a full stop and new sentence will be better.) Sports betting NOT sportsbetting Sports team names Storey (pl. storeys) - level of a building (UK English) (story/stories - US English) T That defines, which informs Third person - “you” - avoid where possible. Titles - all important words should begin with a capital (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a) Tenses - content should generally be written in past tense - present tense should be used for something that has just happened and will be continuing into the future. U United States abbreviated to U.S. (Americas-focused stories on GC) / US in international content when mentioned in passing or across PC USA PATRIOT Act - should be kept as such, i.e. with caps, as it’s an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act”) U.S. Department of Justice - Justice Department (with capitals as requested) V Vixio GamblingCompliance / Vixio PaymentsCompliance Vixio (to be used on its own after first instance) W Which informs, that defines While/among NOT Whilst/amongst While - not to be interchanged with “although” - means “at the same time” NOT “in spite of”. X Y Year quarters - Q1, Q2, H1, H2, etc. Z Acronyms AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT API - application programming interface DLT - distributed ledger technology --- Now, given the above instructions and style guide, please generate a horizon scanning update based on the following webpage content. Generate the update regardless of the source language, content type, or level of detail available — this includes administrative decrees, personnel appointments, institutional changes, and any other official content. Use whatever information is present. Guideline on Disclosure in Sales and Business Practices: Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada - Canada.ca Guideline on Disclosure in Sales and Business Practices: Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada Updated: March 2, 2026 ( previous version ) Original publication date: February 13, 2013 Previous amendment date: November 13, 2016 Effective date: March 2, 2026 I. Introduction 1. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) developed this Guideline on Disclosure in Sales and Business Practices (the Guideline) to set out its expectations with respect to the obligations of Payment Card Network Operators (PCNOs) and their Acquirers and Downstream Participants to disclose information in accordance with Policy Element 1 of the Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada (the Code). 2. In 2010, the Government of Canada introduced the Code, formerly the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada , to promote greater transparency for businesses and card holders who use credit cards, prepaid cards and/or debit cards, and to enhance fairness, clarity and choice within the payment card industry. 3. The 2024 revisions of the Code provide further clarity and precision around certain requirements and expectations. 4. PCNOs operating in Canada that adopt the Code must: 4.1. abide by its requirements and require compliance by their participants Footnote 1 (Acquirers are responsible for the compliance of their Downstream Participants); and 4.2. incorporate the Code, in its entirety, into the contracts they use with their participants or into their governing rules and regulation. 5. FCAC expects PCNOs to incorporate related FCAC guidance into the contracts they use with their participants or into their governing rules and regulations. 6. This Guideline should be read in conjunction with the Code and all applicable legislation, regulations and FCAC guidance. II. Key principles 7. FCAC expects PCNOs that adopt the Code to establish and maintain policies and procedures that ensure the sales and business practices of their Acquirers and Downstream Participants fully comply with the Code and are executed in a manner that reflects the principles outlined in the Code and this Guideline. 8. FCAC expects that PCNOs and their Acquirers and Downstream Participants are guided by the following principles: Effectiveness Acquirers and Downstream Participants’ sales and business practices are comprehensive, fair, consistent and support compliance with the disclosure requirements in the Code. Transparency Acquirers and Downstream Participants’ sales and business practices are clear, simple and non-misleading. Timeliness Any Code-related complaints made by merchants about sales and business practices are addressed in a timely manner. III. Effectiveness 9. FCAC expects PCNOs to work directly with their Acquirers and Downstream Participants to ensure that merchants receive clear, consistent and complete information about their agreements, related documents Footnote 2 and monthly statements. This includes: 9.1. ensuring consistent terminology Footnote 3 and complete disclosures across all materials—such as card processing applications, quotes, proposals, merchant agreements and monthly statements—particularly for fees and rates; 9.2. honouring advertised and promised rates and fees to merchants; 9.3. not unilaterally altering or modifying agreements with merchants without Code-compliant notice(s); and 9.4. providing merchants with complete copies of their agreements and any other document referred to within the agreement (such as providing a copy of applicable transaction and processing fees and rates at the time agreements are entered into). IV. Transparency 10. FCAC expects PCNOs to collaborate with their Acquirers and Downstream Participants to ensure that all disclosures are consistent with FCAC’s Clear language and presentation principles and guidelines for the industry (CG-3) . 11. FCAC expects PCNOs to work directly with their Acquirers and Downstream Participants to ensure that all merchant disclosures, notices and communications required under the Code—whether in print or digital format—are clear, simple and non-misleading. 12. FCAC expects PCNOs to work directly with their Acquirers and Downstream Participants to ensure that their sales and business practices are presented in a clear, non-misleading manner and accurately represent the terms of merchant agreements, card processing applications, quotes and proposals. 13. To increase merchants’ understanding of payment processing and enhance transparency, FCAC expects PCNOs to ensure that their Acquirers and Downstream Participants adhere to the Disclosures and Communications section of the Code by making information on payment processing (such as glossaries and descriptions of products, services and dispute resolution processes) easily available on their websites. V. Timeliness 14. FCAC expects PCNOs to work directly with their Acquirers and Downstream Participants to ensure they establish and implement complaint-handling processes to: 14.1. address merchants’ Code-related complaints about sales and business practices within the periods prescribed by the Code; 14.2. ensure that merchants are notified when the periods prescribed by the Code will not be met; 14.3. promptly send information to the merchant once the complaint has been investigated and addressed; and 14.4. when applicable, make appropriate remedies for merchants available in a timely manner, including amending or voiding agreements that were entered into in violation of the disclosure requirements provided for in the Code. VI. Administrative requirements 15. FCAC expects PCNOs to work directly with their Acquirers and Downstream Participants to regularly review existing processes to ensure compliance with the Code. 16. PCNOs must demonstrate, upon request from FCAC, their compliance with the Code and with the expectations set out within this Guideline by providing FCAC with the supporting documentation, reports and any other information that FCAC may require. Footnote 4 VII. Miscellaneous 17. Questions relating to this Guideline should be sent a) by email to compliance@fcac-acfc.gc.ca or b) by mail to: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Attention: Deputy Commissioner, Supervision and Enforcement Branch 427 Laurier Ave West, 5th Floor Ottawa, ON K1R 7Y2 Footnote 1 Participants include card Issuers, Acquirers and Downstream Participants as defined by the Code. Return to footnote 1 referrer Footnote 2 “Related documents” refers to those that are either prescribed by the Code (e.g., Annexes A, B, and C) or incorporated by reference into the merchant agreement that provides additional details and binding elements that work in conjunction with the agreement. Return to footnote 2 referrer Footnote 3 “Terminology” refers to the terms defined under the Code. Return to footnote 3 referrer Footnote 4 FCAC Act, subs. 5(3.1) and 5(6). Return to footnote 4 referrer Page details From: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada 2026-03-02

Guideline on Disclosure in Sales and Business Practices: Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada - Canada.ca

Classification

Pipeline Progress

🔄 Pipeline Journey

🤖 How this summary was made

Full AI Instructions