Mastercard introduces TouchCard for the partially sighted in Canada
Eight in ten Canadians agree it's important to embed accessibility in financial products for the sight loss community.
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As payment cards continue to evolve to drive accessibility while adopting modern, flat designs for increased security, Mastercard is introducing Touch Card by Mastercard in Canada.
This accessible system of payment cards has unique notches that allow the sight loss community to identify their credit, debit and prepaid cards with just a touch.
'The Touch Card feature is inclusive by design and addresses a longstanding challenge faced by Canadians with sight loss when engaging in everyday financial activities by helping make their payments easier,' said Shawna Miller, Senior Vice President, Canada Marketing & Communications, Mastercard, Canada. 'At Mastercard, we're to proud foster innovation like Touch Card to help make participating in the digital economy more inclusive, secure and seamless for the sight loss community in Canada.'
Touch Card features an innovative system of notches - rounded for debit, squared for credit and triangular for prepaid - so cardholders can easily identify their cards with just a touch. This helps them quickly identify and correctly orient their cards during a transaction, offering greater security and independence.
'Touch Card by Mastercard is a welcomed and important step forward in improving the accessibility of payment cards in Canada for people who are blind, Deafblind, or have low vision,' said Wayne Henshall, Director of Partnerships & Innovation, CNIB. 'We applaud Mastercard for integrating accessibility into the design of their new debit, credit and prepaid cards and look forward to continued advances as part of the design, validation and implementation of such solutions. Accessibility benefits everyone.'
CIBC is the first Canadian issuing partner to make Touch Card available to Canadians as of May 1, 2025, through a credit card with a unique squared notch - the CIBC Adapta Mastercard.
'At CIBC, we're helping clients realize their unique ambitions,' said Diane Ferri, Senior Vice-President, Day-to-Day Banking, CIBC. 'The innovative Touch Card feature on the CIBC Adapta Mastercard supports our bank's continued efforts to ensure our products and services are accessible to all.'
First introduced globally in 2021, Touch Card by Mastercard is the latest in Mastercard's commitment to accessibility and inclusivity in Canada. It follows the introduction of True Name™, supporting transgender and non-binary communities, and the Sonic at POS, which provides audio confirmation of successful payment transactions at checkout counters.
*The Mastercard Pulse survey was fielded in the spring of 2025. Response data are derived from a representative sample of the Canadian population (N = 2,000) that includes an oversample of small business owners (N= 200). The margin of error for commensurate nationally representative survey responses is ± 2.2% at the 95% confidence interval.
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