KOHO, the Toronto-based fintech with more than 2.9 million customers, and Digital Commerce Bank (DCBank), a Calgary-based Schedule I bank, both announced on 9 November 2026 that they are live on Canada’s Real-Time Rail, the national instant payment system owned and operated by Payments Canada. Fintechbits checked Payments Canada’s published rules summary and found the Real-Time Rail launches with a $100,000 system transaction limit, and that only live participants can send and receive payments on it. The system clears and settles payments in real time, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

What the Real-Time Rail Does

The Real-Time Rail is the first Canadian system to combine real-time exchange with real-time clearing and settlement in one place. Canada has had fast exchange through existing systems for years, Payments Canada notes, but not real-time clearing and settlement in a single system. Under the RTR Rules, once a payment settles the recipient will generally have access to the funds within 60 seconds, according to Payments Canada. Payments carry richer ISO 20022 data, and every participant must use Payments Canada’s centralized fraud services from day one, on top of its own controls. Payments Canada says that makes Canada the first G7 country to launch a real-time system with mandatory centralized fraud services.

Payments on the Real-Time Rail are final and irrevocable except in cases the rules specify. If a payment is sent in error or to a fraudster, the sending participant can request a return, but the receiving participant decides whether to send the money back. Participants may set limits below the $100,000 system cap for their own customers.

Who Is Live on the Real-Time Rail and Who Is Not

KOHO says its customers get instant, round-the-clock account-to-account transfers inside the KOHO app. Daniel Eberhard, KOHO’s founder and chief executive, said “For too long, moving money in Canada has been slower and more expensive than it should be.” KOHO became a Payments Canada member in January 2026, which is what made it eligible to apply.

DCBank’s pitch is to businesses. Its corporate clients reach the rail through DCBank’s existing API platform without building a direct connection, and every payment passes through Payments Canada’s fraud services, including confirmation of payee on applicable consumer payments. Jeff Smith, DCBank’s chief executive, called the rail “the newest piece of a platform we’ve been building for nearly 20 years.”

The large banks are the gap. Payments Canada says all major financial institutions and payment service providers are applying for access, and that the rail will reach more than nine in 10 Canadians within the first year after launch. Until a recipient’s institution connects, a KOHO customer cannot send that person a Real-Time Rail payment.

Fintechbits analysis

Why the Real-Time Rail’s Slow Start Is Deliberate

Canada has waited a long time for this. Payments Canada’s own framing, “a start line, not a finish line,” as Donna Kinoshita, its chief payments officer, put it, is a fair description. A sequenced rollout with a $100,000 cap, mandatory fraud screening and a limited first group of participants is cautious by design. Payments Canada says its mandatory fraud services draw on lessons learned from international implementations, and the whole design reads as an attempt not to repeat other markets’ scam problems.

The commercial winners in the first phase are the specialists. A fintech like KOHO gets a marketing story the big banks cannot match until they connect, and a sponsor bank like DCBank can sell rail access to fintechs and corporates that will not build their own link. Fintechbits has seen the same pattern elsewhere, from Stripe’s free instant B2B transfers inside a two-country network to the gaps industry leaders described when Fintechbits asked what open banking data changed. An instant payment that most of your contacts cannot receive is a feature on a slide, and that limits what KOHO can do with the rail in its first months.

The risk is that irrevocable instant payments arrive before Canadians understand them. The rules leave refunds to the receiving institution’s discretion, which will be tested the first time a scam victim asks for money back.

Frequently asked questions

What is Canada’s Real-Time Rail?

Canada’s Real-Time Rail is a national payment system run by Payments Canada that exchanges, clears and settles payments in real time, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Recipients will generally have funds within 60 seconds of settlement, according to Payments Canada.

Is there a limit on Real-Time Rail payments?

Yes. The system launches with a $100,000 transaction limit, which Payments Canada says it will reevaluate after launch. Participants such as KOHO can set lower limits for their own customers.

Can a payment be reversed?

Payments are final and irrevocable except in circumstances set out in the RTR Rules. A sender’s institution can request a return in cases of error or fraud, but the receiving institution decides whether to return the funds.

What to Watch Next

The number that matters is participant count. Payments Canada has promised coverage of more than nine in 10 Canadians within the first year after launch, which requires the major banks to connect. Watch for the first big bank to announce a live date, and for any change to the $100,000 cap, since a higher limit is what would open the rail to payroll, supplier and real estate payments at scale.