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Bank & Merchant Accounts

University bank accounts are established centrally by Treasury and Investing Services. They are set up for the benefit of the university, for various purposes including daily banking, debt servicing requirements, investments and segregation of funds and debit and credit card transactions.

Bank accounts

A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank in which the financial transactions between an individual or institution and their bank are recorded. Individual schools and departments are not permitted to open or maintain bank accounts independently.

Merchant accounts

Schools and departments that generate sales and revenues may be required to accept debit and credit cards including Visa, MasterCard or American Express as payment from customers. Establishing a merchant account is one of several ways to facilitate these transactions.

Treasury and Investing Services will assist with setup and with ensuring compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) associated with merchant accounts.

Requesting a merchant account

Prior to requesting a merchant account, a technical assessment of the credit card processing system(s) must take place. To request a technical assessment, please contact the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). 

Once the technical assessment is complete with sign-off received, you can request to open a merchant account. To begin the process, please contact Treasury and Investing Services for a Merchant Account Request Form. You will be asked to provide the following details on the form:

  • faculty or department requesting the account;
  • purpose of the account;
  • when you expect to begin processing transactions;
  • address of the faculty or department;
  • main contact name and contact details;
  • employees who will require access to the Global Payments online portal, including their contact details;
  • distribution code where the transactions, fees and chargebacks are to be allocated;
  • confirmation if a point-of-sale terminal is required or, if the account is for e-commerce purposes, the URL to the webpage where purchases are made (e.g. TMU parking payment portal); and
  • approval by the department head.

Treasury and Investing Services will arrange the setup of a merchant account with the university’s payment provider and will coordinate the order of a point-of-sale machine, if required. A merchant identification number (MID) will be assigned, which is required when integrating e-commerce platforms, as well as for record keeping and reporting purposes.

All merchant account requests must be approved by the Chief Financial Officer or their designate.