Symposium Set to Navigate Payments Industry Amid Shifts in Tech, Commerce

The Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization is once against hosting an annual symposium.

The CPPO Symposium, slated for April at the Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto, connects industry leaders for a full day of strategic conversations on navigating prepaid’s competitive edge in Canada’s multi-rail reality, AI’s opportunities and threats, regulatory evolution, and where smart capital is flowing in fintech 2.0.

As real-time rail technology and open banking finally comes to Canada, Symposium 2026 explores how prepaid remains the connective tissue of modern money movement amid shifts in tech and commerce.

Sessions include “Why Prepaid Still Wins: The Backbone Powering Canada’s Next Payments Era,” “How Canada’s Digital Banks Are Shaping Financial Services,” and “The Agents Are Here: Navigating the Dawn of Agentic Commerce.”

Other sessions include “Beyond Points: Turning Payment Data into Hyper Personalized Reward Experiences,” “Deepfakes and Dollars: Strengthening Payments Security in the Age of AI,” and “The Great Rail Shift: Competing and Coexisting in Canada’s Real-Time Economy.”

Today, the prepaid industry is a $14 billion market (projected to reach $17 billion by 2028) including networks, regulated banks, and a rising number of competitor financial institutions.

Prepaid platforms have become the backbone of financial innovation in Canada, according to CPPO, driving inclusion and powering the next generation of fintech solutions.

Open-loop prepaid products are tied to a payment network and provide consumers, businesses, and government with a secure and flexible online payment option that does not have to be tied to a bank account.

These solutions—now a “a valuable part of Canada’s financial services ecosystem”—drive consumer-friendly competition and provide “exciting new ways to bank, transact, and get paid,” the non-profit suggests.

For more information on this topic, check out Fintech.ca’s exclusive interview with CPPO’s executive director, Jennifer Tramontana.

The Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization was established in 2015 and launched the annual Symposium event in 2017.