MasterCard has announced that Canada will be the first North American market to offer consumers the MasterPass digital wallet. Merchants including Porter Airlines, WagJag, Jaunt.ca and Grocery Gateway will make MasterPass available as a payment method on their e-commerce sites, the company said.

MasterPass is MasterCard's new digital wallet that makes ordering on PCs, tablets and mobile devices easier. The digital wallet securely holds a consumer's payment account information, billing address and shipping address. This means that choosing to pay with MasterPass eliminates the need to re-enter information for every purchase, a tedious task on regular-sized keyboards and maddening on smartphone screens.

MasterPass debuted earlier this year with plans to roll it out market by market. MasterCard said it intends to expand the number of MasterPass-enabled merchants in Canada to 800 by the end of 2013 and 2,800 by the end of 2014.

"Canadians are early adopters when it comes to digital payments and embracing new technologies; that's why Canada is the first market in North America where we're launching MasterPass," said Jason Davies, VP of e-commerce at MasterCard Canada. "With e-commerce growing by double digits, more and more Canadians want a secure, seamless and simple payment experience. MasterPass delivers this to consumers no matter if they are shopping on their laptops, tablets or mobile phones."

The MasterPass digital wallet is also offered to merchant and bank partners who want to develop their own digital wallets on top of the MasterPass framework. BMO Bank of Montreal will be offering just such a product, called BMO Wallet, in the next few weeks, MasterCard said.

"With more consumers looking to digital solutions to make their day-to-day purchases, MasterPass is a logical evolution and fits into BMO's strategic direction for payments solutions," said David Heatherly, head of North American payments for BMO Bank of Montreal. "The launch of the BMO Wallet will allow us to provide a simple, seamless and consistent mobile payment experience across all digital channels, including computer, tablet and mobile-based transactions, while providing the same security features our customers have come to expect."

Read more about mobile/digital wallets.