Payments Canada strengthens the resilience of Lynx, Canada's high-value payment system with additional data centre

Today, Payments Canada announced the successful implementation of an additional data centre to further strengthen the overall resilience of Lynx, Canada’s high-value payment system.

Lynx is an electronic wire system used by participating financial institutions to safely send wire payments on behalf of their customers in Canadian dollars. Designated by the Bank of Canada as a systemically important payment system under the Payment Clearing and Settlement Act, Lynx is critical to Canada’s economy. In 2022, the system cleared and settled a daily average of 50,000 transactions worth over $440 billion every business day.

“The safety and soundness of Canada's payment systems is our top priority,” said Shawn Van Raay, Chief Information Officer at Payments Canada. “This work, completed in partnership with our Lynx participants, the Bank of Canada and our technology partners IBM and Nexi, provides a supplementary layer of resilience to support the continuity of our operations in a safe and secure manner.”

The legal framework (which includes the rules and by-law) are important to ensure the smooth operation of Canada’s payment systems. Amendments to Lynx Rule 12 and TSP-002, which take effect today, have been made to provide further information to participants about the appropriate contingency plans and procedures in the event of a disruption.

Visit Payments Canada’s Rules & documentation page for more information on active rules that govern Canada’s payment systems.