Registering a payment service provider with the Bank of Canada
A payment service provider registers with the Bank of Canada before it starts. The Bank must register an applicant unless the Act gives it a reason to refuse.
Updated November 3, 2026
Who must register
The Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) requires a provider to be registered with the Bank of Canada before it performs any retail payment activity.1
Start with the definition and the exclusions. A business is a payment service provider when it performs payment functions as a service or business activity and those functions are more than incidental to another activity. The exclusions also determine whether registration applies.2 Read the definition alongside the wider retail payments regulatory framework before preparing an application.
The application
The application tells the Bank who the applicant is, what payment activities it performs and how it manages the associated risks. It includes the applicant’s legal and trade names, address and contact information, and a declaration about operating from a dwelling-house.3
The application also describes the applicant’s organization and structure, including its incorporation, affiliates, directors and managers or owners, and lists its agents. It sets out the retail payment activities performed or planned, their expected volume and value, the number or estimated number of end users, and information about end-user funds held or planned to be held.3
The application covers the applicant’s approach to managing risk and responding to incidents, how it safeguards end-user funds, and the outside service providers whose work materially affects its activities. The applicant also states whether it is registered with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), whether it has a Canadian place of business, and whether it has applied for provincial registration or already holds it. If the applicant has no Canadian place of business, the application gives the name and address of an agent in Canada who can accept notices.3 The FINTRAC declaration is separate from RPAA registration, as explained in the comparison of FINTRAC and RPAA registration.
The prescribed registration fee accompanies the application. The fee is $2,500, adjusted annually using the Consumer Price Index, and the Retail Payment Activities Regulations (RPAR) prevent the adjusted fee from falling below the previous year’s amount.4
The Bank can request additional information. The applicant must respond within 30 days after the request is made.3 If information supplied with the application changes or is about to change, the applicant must notify the Bank as soon as possible after becoming aware of the change.5
The national security review
The Minister of Finance may decide to review an application for national security reasons within 60 days after receiving a copy of it. The Minister can extend that decision period by 60 days at a time, and a review runs for 180 days from the decision to conduct it.6
The decision
The Bank must register an applicant unless a ground for refusal in the Act applies.7
Where no separate refusal period applies, the Bank has 45 days after it considers the application complete to refuse registration. It can refuse an applicant that does not respond to a request for more information, gives false or misleading information, has certain offences or penalties under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, or lacks a required FINTRAC registration. It can also refuse when the applicant has stopped or no longer intends to perform retail payment activities, has not paid an assessment, or is not covered by the Act, including for the payment functions it performs or plans to perform.8
An applicant that receives a refusal can request a review. The request must be made within 30 days, beginning the day after the applicant is notified of the refusal.9
The registry
The public registry lets a business check a provider before working with it. The Bank maintains the registry and publishes a registered provider’s name and address, trade names, registration date, telephone number, email address and website, where available. It also lists the payment functions the provider performs and the names of its agents.10
The Bank separately publishes a list of applicants it has refused and providers whose registrations it has revoked. That list states the reasons for refusals and revocations.11
A business checking a provider can look up its registry entry and review the refusal and revocation list.
After registration
Registration creates an ongoing duty to keep the Bank’s information current. A registered provider must report changes to its name, address, structure, agents and specified declarations within 30 days, beginning the day after the change occurs, using the Bank’s electronic system.12
The guide to the Retail Payment Activities Act covers the ongoing duties that follow.
Sources (12)
- RPAA, section 23 ↩
- RPAA, section 2 ↩
- RPAA, section 29 ↩
- RPAR, section 25 ↩
- RPAA, section 30 ↩
- RPAA, section 34; RPAR, section 26; RPAR, section 27 ↩
- RPAA, section 25 ↩
- RPAA, section 48; RPAR, section 30 ↩
- RPAR, section 28 ↩
- RPAA, section 26; RPAR, section 23 ↩
- RPAA, section 27 ↩
- RPAA, section 59; RPAR, section 35 ↩
Questions
Who has to register with the Bank of Canada?
A payment service provider must register before performing any retail payment activity.1 Whether a business qualifies depends on the definition of payment functions performed as a service or business activity that is more than incidental to another activity, together with the exclusions.2
How much does registration cost?
The registration fee is $2,500. It is adjusted annually using the Consumer Price Index and cannot be lower than the previous year’s fee.3
How long does registration take?
The Bank has 45 days after it considers an application complete to refuse it on the grounds that apply in that period.4 A national security decision can be made within 60 days after the Minister receives the application, with 60-day extensions available, and a review lasts 180 days from the decision to review.5
How do I check whether a provider is registered?
Look up the provider in the Bank of Canada’s public registry, which publishes its identifying and contact details, registration date, payment functions and agents.6 Also check the Bank’s published list of refusals and revocations.
Can a refusal be reviewed?
Yes. An applicant can request a review within 30 days, beginning the day after it is notified of the refusal.7