Payments Canada launches long-delayed instant payments system

The system is expected to generate savings from lower processing costs, reduced use of cash and cheques and a shorter period during which funds are temporarily unavailable to the recipient.

The initial participants include Wealthsimple, Questbank, Peoples Trust Co., Paramount Commerce, Koho, DoBusiness.com, Digital Commerce Bank and Bank of America. Additional participants are expected to be added in the coming months, including all of the major Canadian financial institutions.

Transactions that pass through Payments Canada systems include debit card payments, pre-authorized debits, direct deposits, bill payments, wire payments and cheques.

Henry Kim, a professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, said the announcement is a step in the right direction.

“There’s a thread that we have to do this for our sovereignty, and we just have to keep up with the rest of the world. A lot of the world has real-time settlement,” he said in an interview, adding it already exists in the U.S.

Payments Canada has been years behind schedule on getting real-time rail in place, which allows near-instant payments clearing 24 hours a day, along with other improvements. The organization originally aimed to have the system in place by 2019.

The ability to more rapidly clear payments is particularly helpful for businesses, Kim said.

“It also means that if you’re tight for cash, if you’re a business and your working capital runs low, you can get paid much faster by other businesses,” he said.

Payments Canada said the real-time rail system will also come with mandatory centralized fraud services and controls, including confirmation of payee, a fraud transaction safety score, a list of fraud risks, and a platform for fraud reporting.

Kim, who works with U.S. credit unions on payment technology, said there are some concerns among U.S. financial institutions about fraud-related risks from real-time payments, with some U.S. banks electing not to provide the feature to customers.

“Because when you get rid of that lag, there’s less time for verification so someone could actually make a fraudulent transaction. And with the real-time rail, oftentimes you don’t get that back,” he said.

“Canada’s actually done something different from the U.S., and I think it’s actually really good to have that centralized.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2026.

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Payments Canada launches long-delayed instant payments system

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