The Government of Canada has announced its 2025 budget, Budget 2025: Canada Strong.
The budget focuses on key themes, including: Shifting from reliance to resilience, protecting Canada’s sovereignty and security, and building a stronger Canadian economy. The budget acknowledges the importance of payments in supporting these objectives through:
Safer payments: Since September 2025, the Bank of Canada is supervising payment service providers under the Retail Payments Activities Act (RPAA).
More choice for Canadians: As of September 25, 2025, eligibility for Payments Canada membership expanded, allowing eligible new firms to apply for direct access to core payment systems.
Faster payments: Payments Canada’s forthcoming Real-Time Rail (RTR) will enable instant, 24/7/365 money transfers.
Consumer-driven banking: Budget 2025 advances open banking, including payment initiation capability by mid-2027 to enable direct bank payments through third-party apps.
Stablecoins: Budget 2025 introduces a federal framework to regulate fiat-backed stablecoins to improve safety, trust and adoption in digital payments.
Transparent international remittances: The government will require banks to clearly disclose pricing and costs for cross-border transfers so consumers can compare fees.
Fixing misdirected payments: The government also plans to require banks to investigate and attempt to resolve payments accidentally sent to the wrong recipient.
As operator of Canada’s national critical payment infrastructure, Payments Canada welcomes the inclusion of these payment industry priorities. In particular, we commend the Government of Canada’s support for the delivery of the RTR, which will launch following robust and successful testing that meets Canada’s expectations for a trusted and secure payment system. This transformational, made-in-Canada payment system will deliver significant benefits to consumers, businesses and Canada’s economic wellbeing by driving innovation, improving payment efficiency and increasing choice. The RTR also supports the national priority to combat fraud and financial crime.
The Government of Canada’s commitment to advance consumer-driven banking (open banking), combined with Payments Canada’s recently expanded membership eligibility and the forthcoming RTR, will set the stage for a new era of innovative payment solutions that combine data, speed and safety to help Canadians and their businesses thrive. Payments Canada also supports the development of a legislative and regulatory framework for stablecoin. This will ensure adequate supervision to safeguard financial stability, consumer protection and Canada's monetary sovereignty. Payments Canada stands ready to continue to support the Government of Canada in the development and implementation of these initiatives, enabling competition with safety and security as a top priority.