Payments Canada said in its latest quarterly update that the Real-Time Rail has moved into industry solution assurance testing, marking the first phase in which participants are connecting to the platform and testing it with their own workflows and transactions. The shift takes the program beyond internal system testing and is intended to confirm that end-to-end ISO 20022 messages flow between institutions and that the mandatory Centralized Fraud Services can analyze transactions in real time. The update says internal technical testing in the first half of 2026 pushed the core infrastructure through performance, resilience and security checks across the clearing and settlement component, RTR Exchange functionality, first Third-Party Exchange connectivity and integration of day-one centralized fraud services. Payments Canada also said expanded membership eligibility has brought in more than 15 new members this year, including credit union locals and payment service providers, and that the final RTR rules and by-law are coming into effect this quarter. Next steps are a phased onboarding toward a Q4 launch. The first Direct-to-Exchange participants are due to go live at launch, followed by two migration phases that will move existing Interac e-Transfer volumes onto the RTR for real-time, line-by-line settlement. Payments Canada added that there is no mandatory deadline for new participants to join once they reach technical and operational readiness.

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