Payments Canada shakes up leadership

First priority for new CEO is to get faster system online

Trains aren’t the only way Canada lags on high-speed rail.

The effort by Payments Canada to bring in a faster payment system, known as the Real-Time Rail, is years behind schedule, leaving Canada as the only G20 country without the system in place.

The delay means merchants have to wait for what they’re owed, the amount of money consumers can send along electronically is fairly limited and anyone can get caught out with late payments because of how slowly online payments sometimes go through.

As it stands, if you paid a bill online on the Thursday evening before the Easter long weekend, the payment might not be processed until Monday.

A modernized system would mean payments go through nearinstantly, 24 hours a day, bringing along billions of dollars of benefits, according to an estimate from the C.D. Howe Institute out in December.

“There’s huge benefits here for people,” said Jeremy Kronick, director of the Centre on Financial and Monetary Policy at the think tank. He co-authored a report that pegged the benefits to the economy at around $3.24 billion over the first five years. “It’s not an issue for everybody, but where it is an issue, it’s a big issue.”

He pointed to his own experience of trying to pay a contractor by etransfer, and having to space it over several days because of the daily limits that often top out at $3,000.

The new system does also raise fraud concerns because it does allow instant transfers of large sums, but Kronick said there are ways to put rules and regulations in place to deal with these issues.

Getting the new system up and running will be the highest-profile task of the next CEO of Payments Canada as Tracey Black, who has run the organization since 2018, stepped down at the end of her term Monday.

Payments Canada CFO Kristina Logue and chief delivery officer Jude Pinto have been named co CEOs on an interim basis until a successor is appointed.

The organization, established by the government but funded by industry, owns and operates Canada’s payment systems, last year clearing and settling over $112 trillion.

Payments Canada originally targeted 2019 to have a system up and running, but has pushed it back several times since. The last update in December did not set a target launch date, but said there would be an update in the first quarter.

Spokesperson Jessica Tropea said that update will be released in the coming weeks.