Canada’s Real-Time Rail launch confirmed in Budget 2026

A generational milestone for national productivity, unlocking trusted convenience for consumers and businesses.

Payments Canada welcomes the Government of Canada’s continued commitment to modernizing national payment infrastructure in Budget 2026, Masters of our destiny and its continued support for Canada’s Real-Time Rail including its launch on Monday, November 9, 2026.

“Budget 2026 builds on significant progress to modernize Canada’s payment ecosystem, including establishing a regulatory framework for payment service providers, expanding access to Payments Canada’s systems and supporting the launch of a new fast-payment system called the Real-Time Rail on November 9, 2026, which will enable individuals and businesses to send and receive data-rich payments instantly, with immediate access to funds.”

Canada’s RTR marks a transformative turning point for Canada’s economy. As a new sovereign real-time payment system, it is a critical piece of national payment infrastructure that enables participating Payments Canada members, including financial institutions, credit unions and payment service providers, to exchange, clear and settle payments securely in seconds, 24/7/365. It is also built to international standards, making it internationally extensible.

As we prepare to launch the RTR, we share the government’s ambition for this made-in-Canada, for Canada digital highway that will enable faster, smarter and safer payments for all Canadians and their businesses. We appreciate ongoing industry support and look forward to providing further updates on this historic milestone in the coming days.

The federal government’s explicit recognition of payment and settlement systems as a core strategic and sovereign capability for Canada – a pillar outlined in recently released national security strategy, The Plan for a Stronger Canada , reinforces the essential role that secure, modern payments play in driving national economic productivity and resilience. This strategic positioning is further strengthened by the joint commitment announced at the Canada-EU Summit to support work to connect the RTR with Europe's instant payment systems to facilitate more seamless cross-border transactions between the two economies.

Payments Canada also looks forward to working with the government, regulators and the broader payments ecosystem to advance the next phase of payments modernization in Canada, with an expected early-2027 public consultation, and the statutory review of the Canadian Payments Act. 

Budget 2026 also announced the government’s intention to:

Continue to advance digital transformation in the financial sector by:

• Strengthening the Bank of Canada’s oversight of payment service providers (PSPs) through targeted amendments to the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA).
• Working with provinces and territories to develop harmonized consumer protection requirements for PSPs regulated under the RPAA.
• Developing a pilot project for the use of voluntary digital credentials in financial services.

Strengthen Canada’s Stablecoin framework by:

• Requiring federally regulated financial institutions to issue stablecoins through non-financial institution subsidiaries regulated under the Stablecoin Act and extend the act to foreign financial institutions.
• Continuing to engage with stakeholders on consumer protections while supporting responsible innovation in the stablecoin market.

Increase competition in the financial sector by:

• Making amendments to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) Act to strengthen competition in OSFI’s mandate.
• Making the process for becoming a federally regulated financial institution more predictable, transparent and timely.
• Allowing more flexibility to transfer assets and liabilities between financial institutions.
• Making amendments to the Bank Act to make it easier for federal credit unions to access capital and pursue growth opportunities, as well as to allow more flexibility in ownership structures.

Combat fraud and protect Canadians’ bank accounts by:

• Introducing a legislated Multi-Sector Anti-Fraud Framework as a cornerstone of the National Anti-Fraud Strategy.

Detect, disrupt, deter financial crimes by:

• Transferring the responsibility for anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing supervision of federally regulated financial institutions to OSFI, and improving information sharing between FINTRAC and OSFI.
• Expanding anti-money laundering requirements and the AML/ATF registration regime after engaging with the industry.
• Giving government authorities access to non-public beneficial ownership registry information to more easily detect and address the illicit use of shell companies.
• Strengthening the government’s ability to dissolve corporations being used for fraudulent purposes.
• Bringing forward legislation to strengthen investigative tools, modernize Criminal Code offences to address evolving forms of financial crime and facilitating the recovery of proceeds of crime.

For more details, read the full version of Budget 2026: Masters of our destiny.