Walmart Canada to no longer accept Visa cards at its 16 Manitoba stores

Police checked the store, and shortly after, let everyone back in according to employees. (Source: Emad Agahi/ CTV Winnipeg)

THE CANADIAN PRESS@

TORONTO -- Walmart Canada says it will start informing its Manitoba customers today that all 16 stores in the province will not accept Visa as of Oct. 24.

The move comes as the retail giant and the credit card company remain locked in a battle over merchant fees.

Walmart pledged in June that it would stop accepting Visa at its more than 400 Canadian stores, saying it pays more than $100 million in fees annually for customers using credit cards.

But the retailer took only a small step toward fulfilling that June pledge when it dropped the credit card from its three locations in Thunder Bay, Ont., on July 18.

Visa, the country's largest credit card firm, shot back by encouraging Walmart customers "to use their cards at the more than 5,200 stores in Thunder Bay that accept Visa."

Visa said it had offered Walmart one of the lowest rates for any merchant in the country but the retailer wanted more.

If it had given in, Visa said, Walmart's merchant fees would have been lower than those charged to local grocery markets, pharmacies, convenience stores, charities and schools.

When the battle first erupted, the Retail Council of Canada called on the federal government to intervene to mandate lower fees for all merchants.

A spokesman for Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he was waiting to receive a report on the matter before deciding "how we can ensure this market stays competitive in the future."