Payments/CA/business-request-money
Business Request Money
Request Money QR is the name our country report uses for Interac's Business Request Money, the business side of Interac e-Transfer. A shop, charity or biller sends you a payment request, or shows a QR code that creates one. You approve it in your own bank's app and the money moves from your account to theirs. Interac's official name is "Interac e-Transfer Business Request Money", and the QR code is one of several ways to start it. In October 2026 five institutions offered it to businesses: BMO, CIBC, DC Bank, Peoples Trust and Scotiabank. It carried over 160 million transactions in 2025.
| Country | Canada (CA) |
| What it is | A request-to-pay on the Interac e-Transfer network: the business asks, you approve from your bank account |
| Banks or providers | For businesses: BMO, CIBC, DC Bank, Peoples Trust, Scotiabank (Oct 2026) [1]. For payers: any bank or credit union in Interac e-Transfer |
| Since | QR pilot on 19 Jul 2021 [2]; the dated product launch was not found |
| Cost | Usually nothing for the payer; the business pays its bank. Interac's wholesale fee is 35 basis points, capped at $3.50 [3] |
| Typical limit | Requests under $10,000 at Scotiabank [4] |
| Reaches | Canadian bank accounts only |
| Code on paper? | Sometimes. A business can print or display a QR code that starts a request. The code is a link; no payload format is published |
How Request Money QR came to Canada
Request Money, where you ask someone for an e-Transfer, began as a personal feature. Interac says its use grew 126 % in the 12 months to April 2022 [5].
The QR idea was first tested at a charity golf event. On 19 July 2021, at the Ronald McDonald House Charities Toronto Golf Classic, Interac put a "quick reference code" on posters by the second tee. Golfers scanned it, chose an amount on a web page, picked their bank and confirmed a Request Money transaction. 176 golfers raised $1,518 that day [2]. In the same article an Interac director imagined "a hot dog vendor downtown with a QR code" and QR codes on invoices. Those were ideas in 2021, not services that existed then.
Business Request Money is now a product of Interac e-Transfer for Business, which launched on 4 August 2021 [6]. Interac's figures:
| Year | Business Request Money transactions |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 89.2 million; October passed 10 million in a month [7] |
| 2025 | Over 160 million, up 81 % year on year [8] |
These totals cover every channel: website, app, invoice and QR. Interac publishes no QR-only figure.
How to use it
As a payer:
- Scan the business's QR code with your phone camera, or open the request link in an email, invoice or checkout page. The RMHC pilot ran in the phone's browser, with no app to install [2].
- Choose your bank and sign in to your online or mobile banking.
- Check and approve the request: who it's from and the amount. The money leaves your account at once and you can't cancel it afterwards [9].
CIBC describes the same flow for its business clients: requests come prefilled, and payers complete them "in-channel" or on mobile "using QR codes", choosing their own bank and account [10].
Paying a website from a computer: some checkouts show a QR code on the desktop page so you finish on your phone. In the flow the processor Paramount Commerce documents, you scan the code, the Interac payment flow opens on your phone, you complete Request Money in your bank, and your phone lands back on the merchant's page [16].
Paying an invoice: with an invoicing add-on such as "Interac e-Transfer by PSI" for Xero, you pick Interac e-Transfer on the invoice, sign in to your own bank and confirm [17].
As a business: there is no Interac sign-up. You set it up through a participating bank, which offers it for websites, apps, invoices and QR codes [1]. Interac's developer site calls it "a light-weight API" that any business platform can call, from a website, an app or a QR code [15]. If your bank isn't on the list, Interac's advice in October 2026 was to tell your bank you want it [1]. Payment processors also resell it: the PSI app for Xero, for instance, onboards a business through its own partner portal [17]. At Scotiabank, businesses can also upload a file of up to 10,000 payment requests at once [4].
Requests between people (a friend asks you for your share of dinner) use the same approval step but no QR code: see Interac e-Transfer. Interac's FAQ says you can opt out of receiving requests from a person, or altogether [11].
Limits and fees
- For the payer: CIBC charges nothing to fulfil a request [12], and Desjardins says declining is always free [9]. Interac's FAQ says a bank or credit union "may" charge for Request Money [11].
- For the business: Interac charges the business's bank either 35 basis points per payment, capped at $3.50, or a flat $0.35 for qualifying customers after a one-time $2,000 onboarding fee. Most of it goes on to the payer's bank: 25 of the 35 basis points, or $0.25 of the $0.35 [3]. What your bank passes on is in its own price list; none of the five banks' Business Request Money prices were public on the pages we read.
- Amounts: Scotiabank describes requests "under $10,000" [4], and CIBC caps personal requests at $10,000 [12]. Your own bank's daily e-Transfer limit applies when you pay.
Limits change; check your bank's current terms.
Paying shops and businesses
Interac lists the uses it supports [1]:
- Storefront purchases and pop-ups, through a QR code at the counter;
- Donations, in person or online;
- Payment inside a merchant's website or app, without a separate bank login;
- Funding a new bank, investment (RRSP, TFSA) or licensed gaming account;
- Paying a credit card bill from your banking app;
- Utility bills, requested by the utility each month.
Third-party tools also generated these QR codes. The Toronto company nanopay sold a "Scan to Pay" QR for e-Transfer payments in person until its site went offline in 2026: see nanopay.
Paying across borders
Business Request Money moves Canadian dollars between Canadian accounts. Interac lists only "participating Canadian financial institutions" for it [1], and the PSI invoicing app requires the business to have a Canadian bank account and bill in Canadian dollars [17]. None of the Interac, bank or processor pages we read offered it to payers abroad, so a visitor without a Canadian bank account can't pay a Request Money QR. Payments Canada's Real-Time Rail, still due in the fourth quarter of 2026 on 19 October 2026, is a domestic system too [18].
How the Request Money QR code works
The code is a QR code that opens a web page. In the 2021 pilot, golfers scanned a printed "quick reference code", chose an amount on a website and completed an Interac e-Transfer Request Money transaction in their banking app. Interac said this worked "through the browsers that are already installed on their phones", with no hardware for the charity [2]. CIBC's description of QR fulfilment, where the payer picks a bank and account, fits the same pattern [10].
A processor's developer documentation adds detail for website checkouts. Paramount Commerce generates one QR code per payment from the same request as its normal checkout; the transaction "isn't created until the customer scans the QR code", the code expires after 4 hours, and it can carry the merchant's colours and logo [16]. So a checkout QR is single-use and short-lived, while a QR printed for a counter or a donation poster starts a fresh request each time it is scanned.
What's inside the code is not publicly documented. Interac publishes no payload format, so a Request Money QR is not something another app can read the way it reads an EMVCo merchant QR. More on Interac's QR history is on the Interac QR standard page.
Not every QR code connected with e-Transfer is a payment. Activity Messenger, for example, emails a QR ticket after you pay for an event by e-Transfer. That code is scanned at the door for check-in and moves no money [13].
Safety: a request is not a payment
A request asks you to pay, so treat every one as money going out. National Bank describes the money request scam: you sell something online, the "buyer" says they'll pay by e-Transfer, and instead you get a money request. If you click accept, you pay them [14].
- Check what kind of notice it is (a transfer to you, or a request for money), plus the requester's name and the amount, before you approve. Once accepted it can't be cancelled [9].
- Receiving money never needs your approval. Someone paying you sends a transfer. They don't ask you to accept a request.
- Scan a QR code only where you expect to pay, and make sure the page and the request show the business you're paying. Block requesters you don't know; Desjardins and Interac both offer it [9] [11].
- Look for a sticker over the code. A printed QR code can be covered with a fake one. In August 2025 the RCMP warned of fake QR codes on parking meters across the country that led to look-alike payment sites [20]. A genuine Business Request Money payment always ends in your own bank's app or website, never on a page asking for your card or banking password.
Interac says the business side is built so that "pre-established payment consent" sends deposits to a single account [1].
Request Money QR and the alternatives in Canada
| Way to pay | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Business Request Money (QR, link, invoice) | Small shops, charities, bills, account top-ups | You approve from your bank; over 160 million in 2025 [8] |
| Interac e-Transfer | Paying people and businesses by email or phone | You push the money; the payee is found by email or phone number |
| Interac Debit | Shops with a card terminal | Card or phone tap; 7 billion transactions in 2025 [8] |
| KONEK (Interac Direct) | Online shops | Pay from a chosen bank account at checkout; launched 4 Nov 2025 at Staples Canada [19] |
| nanopay RequestMoney | Was: invoices and Scan to Pay for small firms | A third-party front end to e-Transfer; its site went offline in 2026 |
Canada's banks and payment systems are covered in the (CA report).
Sources
- Interac, "Interac e-Transfer Business Request Money", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.interac.ca/en/payments/business/interac-e-transfer-business-request-money/
- Interac, "Charity payment processing + Interac e-Transfer: How Interac teed up quick-reference code donations for Ronald McDonald House Toronto", 19 Aug 2021. https://www.interac.ca/en/content/business/charity-payment-processing-interac-e-transfer-how-interac-teed-up-quick-reference-code-donations-for-ronald-mcdonald-house-toronto/
- Interac, "Understanding Business Fees", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.interac.ca/en/payments/business/understanding-fees/
- Scotiabank, "Receive payments with Interac e-Transfer for business", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/commercial-banking/banking-solutions/payments/receiving-customer-payments/interac-e-transfer.html
- Interac, "Interac e-Transfer use surpasses one billion transactions in the last twelve months", 31 May 2022. https://www.interac.ca/en/content/news/interac-e-transfer-use-surpasses-one-billion-transactions-in-the-last-twelve-months/
- Interac, "Interac and many of Canada's leading financial institutions enhance Interac e-Transfer to introduce instant digital payments for businesses", 4 Aug 2021. https://www.interac.ca/en/content/news/interac-and-many-of-canadas-leading-financial-institutions-enhance-interac-e-transfer-to-introduce-instant-digital-payments-for-businesses/
- Interac, "2024 Corporate Year in Review", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.interac.ca/en/company/about/corporate-year-in-review/2024-corporate-year-in-review/
- Interac, "2025 Corporate Year in Review", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.interac.ca/en/company/about/corporate-year-in-review/
- Desjardins, "Interac e-Transfer: Send Money Easily", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.desjardins.com/en/accounts-services/interac-e-transfer.html
- CIBC Commercial Banking, "Receivables Management", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.cibc.com/en/commercial/business-solutions/managing-cash-flow/receivables-management.html
- Interac, "Personal FAQ: Interac e-Transfer", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.interac.ca/en/resources/personal-resources/personal-faq/interac-e-transfer/
- CIBC, "How to Send and Receive Money with Interac e-Transfer", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.cibc.com/en/personal-banking/ways-to-bank/how-to/send-interac-e-transfer.html
- Activity Messenger, "How to Accept Interac E-Transfer for Event Ticket Sales", 24 Jun 2026. https://activitymessenger.com/blog/accept-interac-e-transfers-for-event-payments/
- National Bank, "How can you protect yourself from Interac scams?", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.nbc.ca/personal/advice/security/how-protect-interac-etransfer-scams.html
- Interac Innovation, "Business Request Money" (developer page), read 19 Oct 2026. https://innovation.interac.ca/solution/business-request-money/
- Paramount Commerce, "INTERAC Payments via QR Code" (developer documentation), read 19 Oct 2026. https://docs.paramountcommerce.com/docs/interac-requesting-money-via-qr-code
- Xero App Store Canada, "Interac e-Transfer by PSI", read 19 Oct 2026. https://apps.xero.com/ca/app/interac-e-transfer-by-psi
- Payments Canada, "Testing and launch" (Real-Time Rail), read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.payments.ca/systems-services/payment-systems/real-time-rail-payment-system/testing-and-launch
- Interac, "Interac expands e-commerce capabilities in collaboration with Canadian financial institutions" (KONEK at Staples Canada), 4 Nov 2025. https://www.interac.ca/en/content/news/staples-canada-customers-first-to-benefit-from-a-new-interac-e-commerce-solution-konek/
- RCMP, "Penticton RCMP warn residents of national QR code parking scam", 6 Aug 2025. https://rcmp.ca/en/bc/news/2025/08/penticton-rcmp-warn-residents-national-qr-code-parking-scam
Researched 19 October 2026. Limits and bank offerings change; the banks' own pages are authoritative.