Canada launches its long-delayed instant payments system
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Ottawa: Canadians can now start to benefit from instant payments. Payments Canada has launched its Real-Time Rail, a national payment system meant to speed up everyday payments for businesses and consumers.
Payments sent through the system clear and settle in seconds, and it runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Canada had been the only G20 country without a real-time payment system. The original target date was 2019, but the launch was delayed many times.
Fraud protection was a key focus. Canada is the first G7 country to launch a real-time payment system with mandatory central fraud checks from day one. These include confirming who the payee is, a fraud safety score for each transaction, and a platform for reporting fraud.
The rollout is gradual. The first eight participants do not include any of Canada’s six biggest banks. Payments Canada cited C.D. Howe Institute estimates that the system could save up to about C$14.5 billion.