Payments Canada has brought into force amendments to the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS) rules, effective 9 February 2026, to align the framework with recent changes to the Canadian Payments Act and to refine clearing and return-processing procedures. The updates reflect expanded eligibility for ACSS participation, including registered payment service providers, clearing houses and certain credit union entities. ACSS Rule D1 replaces affiliate restrictions with a risk-based, case-by-case approach focused on whether an applicant’s affiliations could impede meeting financial requirements such as paying clearing balances, fulfilling collateral pledges or making default contributions. The amendments also tighten and clarify return procedures, including limiting use of a Return Item Slip to redirecting an item and narrowing the “Item Incorrectly Amount-Encoded” return reason to cases where the encoded amount is wrong but the written and numeric amounts on the item match. Operational clean-up measures retire legacy references no longer used by financial institutions, including ACSS Stream “Z” and the Point-of-Entry Offices list in Rule K1, and update Rule L1 interest calculations on default contributions to align with changes in Rule J10.
Payments Canada 2026-02-12
Payments Canada amends ACSS rules to align with the Canadian Payments Act and support expanded membership
Payments Canada has amended the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS) rules, effective 9 February 2026, to align with the Canadian Payments Act and refine clearing and return-processing procedures. Key changes include expanded ACSS participation eligibility, a risk-based approach to affiliate restrictions, and tightened return procedures, alongside operational updates like retiring outdated references and updating interest calculations on default contributions.