Canada is preparing to make money move almost instantly, but public confidence has not yet caught up with the technology.
Ahead of the planned late-2026 launch of the country’s Real-Time Rail, Vancouver-based Peoples Group is partnering with fraud-prevention specialist Feedzai to strengthen its defences against fraudulent transactions and scams.
The Real-Time Rail will allow payments to clear and settle within seconds, 24 hours a day. That speed promises greater convenience, but also removes the settlement delays financial institutions have traditionally used to identify and stop suspicious transfers.
Peoples Group plans to integrate Feedzai’s AI-powered RiskOps technology into its transaction infrastructure, enabling payments to be assessed for risk as they move through the system.
“Trust is critical to driving adoption of Canada’s Real-Time Rail,” said David Raju, president and CEO of Peoples Group.
The partnership arrives amid a sizable confidence gap. Payments Canada research found that 49% of Canadians consider real-time payments appealing, while 53% say fraud concerns affect their shopping habits.
Peoples Group’s rollout will begin with real-time transaction monitoring and alert management before expanding to other payment types and financial-crime capabilities.
The implementation will also include Feedzai IQ Score, which gives financial institutions access to anonymized fraud intelligence derived from Feedzai’s global network. The company says its technology protects more than one billion consumers and monitors $9 trillion in payment volume annually.
For Peoples Group, which supplies infrastructure and regulatory support to Canadian fintechs, credit unions and challenger banks, the partnership is intended to help those clients participate safely in an always-on payments system.
As Canada approaches the launch of the Real-Time Rail, the challenge will be ensuring fraud prevention becomes as fast as the payments it is protecting.
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