OUTLINE
The short answer: Payments Canada's 2026 report counted 26.7 billion payments worth $12.9 trillion in 2025. Credit and debit cards made up 68 percent of the count, while electronic funds transfer carried 63 percent of the value and cheques another 20 percent. For acquirers, that means most of the money Canadian businesses move still runs outside the card, and the next growth lines are business bank payments, cheque replacement, Interac e-Transfer® and real-time payouts (Payments Canada).
Credit cards alone accounted for 43 percent of all payments and debit for 25 percent. By value, the picture flips: EFT moved $8.2 trillion, cheques $2.6 trillion and online transfers $669 billion, together almost $11.5 trillion, against $1.3 trillion on credit and debit cards combined.
Not all of that is merchant-addressable; payroll and government flows sit in there too. But the business share is exactly where acquirers' merchants and ISVs live, and it is where the card relationship stops. We made this case in Cards Win the Count. Bank Rails Win the Value. Acquirers Need Both, with 2024 data; the 2025 numbers widen the gap.
EFT value grew 7 percent in 2025 while EFT volume grew only 1 percent, and Payments Canada attributes the gain mainly to commercial automated funds transfers, up 9 percent in value. The average EFT was worth about $2,500, against $45 for a debit card payment. These are invoices, supplier runs, payroll and pre-authorized debits: high-value, recurring and sticky.
Offer pay-by-bank collections (pre-authorized debits with settlement-tier choice) and EFT payouts inside the merchant's existing portal.
Cheques still carried $2.6 trillion in 2025, and commercial cheques made up 98 percent of that value, at an average of $13,586 each. Businesses told Payments Canada their biggest cheque problems were long hold periods (41 percent), stopped or returned cheques (39 percent) and NSF bounces (35 percent). Half of businesses expect to stop using cheques entirely.
Asked what would replace them, businesses named EFT (90 percent), Interac e-Transfer® (89 percent) and corporate credit cards (85 percent).
Two of those three replacements are bank rails, and the third is the acquirer's own card business. An acquirer that offers both inside AR and AP workflows is positioned to win whichever one the merchant picks.
Online transfers grew 13 percent in volume and 18 percent in value in 2025, to $669 billion. Interac e-Transfer®, the bulk of that category, grew 14 percent in volume and 18 percent in value, and the average user sent 42 a year. Payments Canada expects growth to flatten as the service matures, but it is already a default way Canadians and small businesses move money.
Embed Interac Request Money® for collections and Interac payouts for refunds and disbursements, branded as the acquirer's own.
The Real-Time Rail is scheduled to launch in Q4 2026 with centralized fraud services, including confirmation of payee, from day one. Payments Canada's own analysis expects adoption to be selective, led by cases where speed changes the outcome:
The RTR launches with a $100,000 per-payment limit (Payments Canada), and participants come on in phases.
Start with disbursements, route by intent so the RTR can be added behind the same instruction, and pay out of settled ledger balances rather than unsettled funds.
Three structural changes landed in the last year. The Bank of Canada began supervising payment service providers under the Retail Payment Activities Act in September 2025. Payments Canada opened membership to new firms and welcomed more than 20 new members, including RPAA-registered PSPs for the first time. And consumer-driven banking, Canada's open banking regime, is set to add payment initiation by mid-2027, with the Bank of Canada as lead regulator.
What acquirers can do: non-bank access to Canada's rails and data is widening. Working with a regulated PSP that already holds these connections is the fastest way to use them without a multi-year build.
Only 39 percent of Canadian businesses reported no payment challenges in a given six months, against 63 percent of consumers. Their top frustrations were high fees (16 percent), paying bills on time (13 percent), managing cash flow (11 percent), processing delays (9 percent) and security (9 percent). Every one of those sits in the money movement around the card, not in the card itself.
See where your Canadian portfolio leaks volume. Book a 30-minute portfolio gap assessment.
Learn More: Expand Beyond Card Acceptance: Acquirer FAQs
Read the full Payments Canada Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026 PDF
26.7 billion payments worth $12.9 trillion, up about 3 percent in volume and 5 percent in value from 2024, according to Payments Canada.
Electronic funds transfer carried 63 percent of total payment value in 2025, about $8.2 trillion, while making up 12 percent of payment volume.
Credit cards made up 43 percent and debit cards 25 percent of payment volume in 2025, 68 percent combined.
Yes. Interac e-Transfer® volume grew 14 percent and value 18 percent in 2025, though Payments Canada expects growth to slow as the service matures.
Payments Canada is launching Real-Time Rail in Q4 2026, with a $100,000 per-payment limit at launch and participants joining in phases.
