Canada Launches 24/7 Real-Time Payment System

Canada launched its Real-Time Rail payment system Monday, opening a new national network that lets participating financial institutions and payment providers exchange, clear and settle payments around the clock.

Payments Canada, which owns and operates the system, said the network is designed to move money in real time, including on weekends and holidays, through existing banking and payment channels.

The initial participants are Wealthsimple, Questbank, Peoples Trust Company, Paramount Commerce, KOHO, DoBusiness.com, Digital Commerce Bank and Bank of America. The launch does not mean every Canadian bank or account has access immediately. Payments Canada said more institutions will join in the coming months and expects the system to reach more than nine in 10 Canadians within its first year.

The network includes centralized fraud controls from launch. Those include confirmation of payee for consumer accounts, transaction risk scores, a shared list of fraud risks and a fraud-reporting platform. Payments Canada cautioned that no system is entirely immune to fraud.

The Bank of Canada will oversee the system. Payments Canada built it with CGI, Deloitte Canada, IBM Canada and Interac, using the ISO 20022 messaging standard to carry payment information alongside transactions.