The Real-Time Rail and Interac e-Transfer

What EFT Rails does

EFT Rails sends a payment by electronic funds transfer (EFT) or by Interac e-Transfer, with the method chosen for that payment. An e-Transfer it receives is final and is not held, because it cannot be taken back. The API reference describes the payment options.

A system and a service

The Real-Time Rail is national payment infrastructure. Interac e-Transfer for Business is a payment service your business reaches through its financial institution. The distinction determines how a payment settles, how you address it and what you can use it to do.

The Real-Time Rail (RTR) is Payments Canada's real-time exchange, clearing and settlement system. Its participants are Payments Canada members whose applications to take part have been approved.¹ It carries only credit transfers, so the payment is pushed to a payee. Settlement between the banks is final and irrevocable.²

Your business uses Interac e-Transfer for Business through its own financial institution and online banking. A payment can be addressed to an email address, a mobile number or an account number.³ That gives you a service accessed through an existing banking relationship, while the RTR supplies a separate system for exchanging, clearing and settling payments.

The RTR's credit-transfer model also sets a clear boundary for collections. You can use it to send money to a payee. Scheduled collections from customers remain a use case for pre-authorized debit. Interac e-Transfer for Business has its own collection method: you send a Request Money, and the other party approves it.⁴

Read more about the Real-Time Rail.

Side by side

The main differences are the payment limit, the availability requirement, the addressing details and the collection method. The RTR figures describe the system. The Interac figures describe the business service, including where your financial institution and account type affect the limit.

The availability requirements describe different things. On the RTR, the payee's bank has a deadline measured from settlement. For e-Transfer, Interac describes the elapsed time most payments take after being sent. Both support payment data, but the RTR specifies a structured-remittance capacity while Interac identifies business references such as invoice numbers and customer IDs.

Read about ISO 20022 in Canada.

How they connect

A payment service can remain the service your business uses while the Real-Time Rail provides clearing and settlement behind it. The rules provide for that separation.

A separate payment exchange can, under an agreement with Payments Canada, submit settlement instructions to RTR clearing and settlement. An RTR payment message can also identify the payment service that supports its processing.¹³

Payments Canada says the initial banks will begin using the RTR when it launches. Current Interac e-Transfer payment volumes will then move to the RTR in two consecutive phases, where payments will settle individually in real time.¹⁴ This plan links the two systems through settlement: e-Transfer provides the payment volumes, and the RTR provides the system that settles them.

Your business does not connect to the RTR itself. You reach it through your bank or provider when that bank or provider offers it. Your access point remains the bank or provider. The RTR's participant framework remains with the approved Payments Canada members.

The payment direction stays the same distinction. The RTR carries payments pushed to payees, so it does not replace pre-authorized debit for collections on a schedule. Interac e-Transfer for Business can support a collection when you send a Request Money and the other party approves it.

Read about irrevocable payments.