A growing number of jurisdictions are leveraging technology to provide real time payments and transfers. This past week, Canada launched Real-Time Rail (RTR) a national payment system for Canadian businesses and consumers.
The RTR is expected to enable participating members to exchange, clear, and settle payments in real time for their customers, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Susan E. Hawkins, President and CEO, Payments Canada, said the launch of real-time payments is the beginning of a new era for payments in Canada, providing a modern foundation to “unleash its full potential, enabling our members to build capabilities that drive innovation, resilience and growth for businesses and consumers across the nation.”
Advocates say it will save users money while boosting economic growth.
Fraud controls at the launch of 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
Participants at launch include:
- Wealthsimple
- Questbank
- People’s Trust Company
- Paramount Commerce
- KOHO
- DoBusiness.com
- Digital Commerce Bank
- Bank of America
Payments Canada states that 60% of Canadian businesses are ready to adopt real-time payments.
RTR was built in partnership with technology providers like CGI, Deloitte Canada, IBM Canada, and Interac Corp. The RTR system is a conventional modern banking rail and not a blockchain network.
