The national payments association has been working for a year with vendor Inside Contactless on the dual interface chips for the Interac Flash specification. The global contactless market is dominated by Visa's payWave and MasterCard's PayPass.

The group has now carried out a series of contactless debit transactions using Scotiabank cards containing Inside's micropass 6008 dual-interface payment microprocessor, and TD Merchant Services' point-of-sale terminals.

It says it will now continue to work with stakeholders this year to ready the Interac Direct Payment point-of-sale extension of Flash for national rollout on branded debit cards in 2011.

Mark O'Connell, president and CEO, Interac Association, says: "The successful transactions that have taken place bring us closer to a national rollout of Interac Flash. From delivering exclusive functionality to providing a strong value proposition to the market, Interac Flash is a win-win."