Payments Canada, the nonprofit banking group that operates Canada’s payment clearing and settlement system, wants to expand its membership to include fintechs, payment services providers or paytech firms, BetaKit reports. The group proposed the idea in an open letter to Canada’s Minister of Finance earlier this month, urging expansion of the organization to non-financial institutions to support competition as payments technology rapidly expands. The move, which would require an amendment to the Canadian Payments Act as part of next year’s budget, would enable any entity registered with the Bank of Canada under the Retail Payments Activities Act to join Payments Canada, whose members include the Bank of Canada, domestic banks and authorized financial institutions, the letter said. —Kate Fitzgerald
