Canada launches Real-Time Rail with eight initial participants

Payments Canada launched the Real-Time Rail on 9 November, a national payment system that lets members clear and settle payments in real time, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The Bank of Canada oversees the system, which was built with CGI, Deloitte Canada, IBM Canada and Interac Corp. and uses ISO 20022 messaging.

The launch participants are Wealthsimple, Questbank, Peoples Trust Company, Paramount Commerce, KOHO, DoBusiness.com, Digital Commerce Bank and Bank of America. Other institutions, including all major Canadian financial institutions, will be onboarded over the coming months, and Payments Canada expects the rail to reach more than nine in ten Canadians within the first year.

Canada is the first G7 country to require centralised fraud services from day one: confirmation of payee for consumer accounts, a fraud transaction safety score, a risk list and a fraud reporting and intelligence platform.