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There’s something about Canada
- Natasha Lauer, VP Marketing
- Utrecht
Payments Canada Summit left a notable impression on me.
Without doubt, one of my absolute highlights was hearing from Canada’s Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne. The team and I also had the privilege of a private meeting and wow, his energy and conviction are infectious.
What struck me most wasn’t just what he said or the undiminishable passion with which he is going to make Canada a leading example. It is how Canada is moving. He spoke about Canada as a lighthouse in a world of uncertainty. About fraud as not just an economic issue but a national security concern. About the need for the best minds, the best tools, and the best infrastructure to be pointed firmly at financial crime.
Europe went compliance first. Canada is going fraud first.
When Verification Of Payee (VOP) launched across Europe and the UK, the primary driver was regulatory compliance. Banks implemented Confirmation of Payee (CoP) and VOP because they had to, with the Netherlands and Belgium being notable exceptions moving ahead of the mandate. For most, the modus operandi was about hitting match rates, and staying on the right side of the regulator. There are patterns of a similar mindset with countries working toward the non-euro 2027 mandate.
The result was more than the sceptics expected, and less than the optimists promised. Everyone checked the compliance box.
Fraud prevention was the outcome we hoped for, but with fraud increasing at the speed of knots, Europe is now improving its fraud and risk capabilities on top of the VOP infrastructure it now has. It’s the right direction.
Canada is starting in a different place
At the Payments Canada Summit, the Minister announced the creation of Canada’s first-ever Financial Crime Agency. It’s a dedicated federal body for investigating sophisticated financial crimes like fraud and money laundering, backed by over $350 million in funding. A National Anti-Fraud Strategy is in development. Crypto ATM bans are coming. Banks are being required, through Bill C-15, to detect and prevent consumer-targeted fraud proactively. The UK government announced a similar approach with the new Fraud Strategy (2026-2029) and the launch of an Online Crime Centre.
All of this is happening before Canada’s Real-Time Rail is due to go live in 2026.
Canada is building the fraud prevention infrastructure first, then launching the rails into an environment where the defenses are already being hardened. It’s proactive, not reactive. And from where SurePay sits, having watched Europe and the UK navigate this journey, it’s the smarter approach. Not being first can be a wonderful thing.
The Minister put it plainly. The best way to catch financial crimes is through data and intelligence. Not badges. Powered by systems that see patterns; signals that feed into context models; and, teams that are equipped to make decisions with the right context. Across a network made up of institutions and data and intelligence that can move faster and smarter than fraudsters.
What we’ve seen in practice
SurePay has been privileged to be on this journey with Europe’s banks.
What’s often overlooked is that the case for account verification was made by the market before it was made by regulators. Our Co-founder and CEO, David-Jan Janse, who spoke at the summit’s Idea Exchange session alongside Stephanie Zee, Chief Product Officer of Payments Canada, was clear on this point. Back in 2016 fraud was already rising with faster payments in the UK and instant payments in the Netherlands. Some in the industry didn’t wait to be told. The data made the argument.
And when CoP and VOP launched at scale, the data showed us something else. The fraudsters adapted. They had to, because suspicious payments were not being completed. And so fraudsters changed their approach. As Stephanie put it during her talk with David-Jan, CoP is one more lie the fraudster has to make, or a hurdle they need to overcome. The more we can strain their credibility, the safer we are. And that framing captures it perfectly. Account verification doesn’t have to be a silver bullet (and we know by now that it isn’t) but, it has to make the fraudster’s job harder at every step.
Also during the summit, our colleague Richard Koldewijn joined an esteemed panel consisting of Shruti Awasthi (Element Fleet Management ) Heather Davis (CIBC), Lorna Godin (CIBC), Mark Sam (Major Street Advisory). The topic was on consent and open banking. It raised a point on Bill C-15 which contains no explicit reference to Confirmation of Payee, or at the least the mechanics of it. That’s a gap. In the UK, CoP became a prerequisite for variable recurring payments when launched in 2024, and you couldn’t set up a variable recurring payment without it. Canada needs to ensure it adds the verification layer throughout its payment infrastructure and not bolt it on separately.
The pattern we see consistently is that the banks that treat account verification as infrastructure, not just compliance, are the ones that are getting closer to building a fraud prevention layer. They’re eliminating the gaps that fraudsters find and move in on quickly.
Canada has the distinct advantage and opportunity to skip the learning curve. The regulatory intent is there. The government investment is there. The leadership, and I say this with sheer certainty having met Minister Champagne, and commitment is there.
What this means for banks operating in Canada
If you are a financial institution thinking about fraud prevention for the next three to five years, the message from this summit was clear. The window to get ahead of this is now, not after Real-Time Rail is live.
Confirmation of Payee for the Canadian payments space is the foundation that makes everything else work.
I’m so proud to be a part of the team that has built this many times across Europe. We know what right looks like. And the good news, we’re implementing it in Canada.
Vive la Canada.
Start today.
Be sure who you pay.
Continue reading
There’s something about Canada
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VOP: Key Lessons Learned According to the CTO
How Fraud detection in the “Wild West” era was superior
How Bank Account Verification is the key to compliant & safe Instant Payments
