Payments Canada research found that 60 per cent of Canadian businesses are ready to adopt real-time payments to address everyday challenges such as forecasting cash flow and waiting to send and receive funds. More than half of surveyed consumers (52 per cent) also expressed interest and intent to use real-time payments. The new system will enable participating financial service providers to clear and settle payments in real time, providing a made-in-Canada platform for future innovation and prosperity.
Payments Canada announced the launch of Canada’s Real-Time Rail (RTR). This new national payment system will transform day-to-day payments for Canadian businesses and consumers by enabling instant speed and settlement, real-time cash-flow visibility and data-rich messaging through existing banking and payment channels.
The launch of Canada’s RTR marks a major milestone in modernizing the critical infrastructure that underpins Canada’s economy and future growth. The RTR will enable participating members, including financial institutions, credit unions and payment service providers, to exchange, clear and settle payments securely in real time for their customers, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
“A stronger, more productive economy relies on modern financial infrastructure that can match our ambition,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue. “The launch of Canada’s Real-Time Rail lays the foundation for a more dynamic and competitive digital economy, driving innovation, expanding choice and creating new opportunities for Canadians while positioning our country for long-term growth.”
“The launch of Canada’s Real-Time Rail marks the beginning of a new era for payments in our country,” said Susan E. Hawkins, President and CEO, Payments Canada. “As a national asset that’s designed specifically for our country, the RTR gives the payment ecosystem a modern foundation to build on. By collectively leveraging this rail, our ecosystem will unleash its full potential, enabling our members to build capabilities that drive innovation, resilience and growth for businesses and consumers across the nation.”
The RTR will drive significant cost savings and economic growth in Canada over the next decade. The C.D. Howe Institute projects that, with its functionalities at launch, the RTR will generate up to $14.5 billion in cost savings from lower processing costs, reduced use of cash and cheques, and reduced float (the period during which funds are temporarily unavailable to the recipient). Extending beyond these cost savings, the RTR is expected to generate $16 billion in economic gains, growing to $27 billion as new functionalities are introduced over time.
“The Real-Time Rail is an important step in modernizing Canada’s payment infrastructure and ensuring it keeps pace with Canadians’ evolving needs,” said Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada. “The Bank will oversee the system so that it operates safely and reliably while ensuring Canadians can benefit from innovations in financial services.”
Owned and operated by Payments Canada, and built in collaboration with delivery partners CGI, Deloitte Canada, IBM Canada and Interac Corp., the RTR leverages ISO 20022 data-rich messaging. Through this shared technical language, the RTR holds the potential to strengthen Canada’s economic sovereign autonomy and support its global competitiveness.
Canada is the first G7 country to deploy a real-time payment system with mandatory centralized fraud services for use at launch. These services will be used alongside participants’ existing fraud controls to mitigate the risk of fraud for Canadian businesses and consumers at multiple levels. Fraud controls required at the launch of Canada’s RTR include:
. Confirmation of payee (available for consumer accounts on day one)
. A fraud transaction “safety” score
. A risk list or repository of fraud risks and indicators
. A fraud reporting and intelligence platform
While no system is entirely immune to risk, these measures establish a strong, coordinated layer of defence across the payment network.
The initial cohort of active RTR system participants includes: Wealthsimple, Questbank, Peoples Trust Company, Paramount Commerce, KOHO, DoBusiness.com™, Digital Commerce Bank and Bank of America.
Canada’s deliberately sequenced RTR rollout pairs day-one security with rapid scalability. With additional participants onboarding continually in the coming months, including all major Canadian financial institutions and other members applying for access, the RTR will be available to more than nine in 10 Canadians within the first year after launch.
Learn more about Canada’s Real-Time Rail
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As a public-purpose organization, Payments Canada owns and operates: Lynx, Canada’s high-value payment system; the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS), retail batch payment system; and the Real-Time Rail (RTR), the new real-time payment system. The company cleared and settled $103 trillion in 2025 — more than $411 billion every business day. Transactions that pass through the company’s systems include debit card payments, pre-authorized debits, direct deposits, bill payments, wire payments and cheques.
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