Canadian Payments Association

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The Canadian Payments Association (CPA) is a not-for profit association created in 1980 by an act of parliament, the Canadian Payments Act, to "establish and operate national systems for the clearing and settlement of payments and other arrangements for the making or exchange of payments" within Canada. The CPA is the regulatory body for the settlement and clearing of payments in Canada. The Minister of Finance is responsible for overseeing the operations of the CPA.

The Association facilitates the flow of funds between institutions and mitigates risk to participants in the payment system. They handle several transaction types including cheques, bills payments, and point-of-sale debits.

All banks operating in Canada as well as the Bank of Canada are required under the Act to be members of the payment system. Other financial institutions such as credit unions, trust companies, life insurance companies, and securities dealers are eligible for membership.

The CPA is very active: on average, some 20.6 million payment items, representing $164 billion in transactions, were cleared and settled through the CPA’s systems each business day during 2005.1

The CPA is also responsible for the Canadian Large Value Transfer System (LVTS) Network.