October 16, 2024
Annual reporting
This supervisory policy provides an overview of annual reporting requirements and clarifies how the Bank of Canada expects payment service providers to comply with those requirements.
Access all supervisory policies and guidelines on registration, supervision and enforcement related to the Retail Payment Activities Act and the Retail Payment Activities Regulations.
On May 20, 2025, the Bank of Canada published:
- How to complete an incident notice: A step-by-step guide
- How to complete a notice of significant change or new activity: A step-by-step guide
- Frequently asked questions related to supervision
We develop supervisory policies and guidelines to help payment service providers (PSPs) understand their obligations and how we will supervise them under the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) and the Retail Payment Activities Regulations (RPAR).
- Supervisory policies are documents that clarify what we will do to carry out our supervisory role, including registration and enforcement activities.
- Supervisory guidelines are documents that clarify the standards and practices we expect PSPs to incorporate into their business operations to meet risk management requirements. We may conduct consultations on our guidelines to gather input and feedback on these supervisory expectations.
For more terminology about retail payment supervision, refer to the glossary.
To help individuals or entities assess whether they could be subject to the Retail Payment Activities Act, use our self-assessment tool.
25
result(s)
October 16, 2024
Reporting of retail payment activity metrics at registration
This supervisory policy outlines the retail payment activity metrics that payment service providers must report at registration.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory policies
Research Topic(s):
Registration,
Reporting
October 16, 2024
Reporting changes to registration information
This supervisory policy explains how the Bank of Canada expects registered payment service providers to comply with requirements to provide updated registration information.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory policies
Research Topic(s):
Registration,
Reporting
October 16, 2024
Notice of significant change or new activity
This supervisory guideline explains the significant change and new activity notice requirements applicable to payment service providers subject to the Retail Payment Activities Act and provides clarity on how the Bank expects payment service providers to comply with them.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory guidelines
Research Topic(s):
Reporting,
Supervision
October 16, 2024
Incident notification
This supervisory guideline explains the incident reporting requirements applicable to payment service providers subject to the Retail Payment Activities Act and provides clarity on how the Bank expects payment service providers to comply with them.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory guidelines
Research Topic(s):
Reporting,
Supervision
October 16, 2024
Operational risk and incident response
This supervisory guideline is intended to help payment service providers subject to the Retail Payment Activities Act comply with their obligations related to the identification and mitigation of their operational risks as well as their response to incidents.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory guidelines
Research Topic(s):
Supervision
October 2, 2024
Amendments to registration applications
This supervisory policy explains how applicants should proceed when making changes to the information they provided as part of their application to become a registered payment service provider.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory policies
Research Topic(s):
Registration
October 2, 2024
Criteria for registering payment service providers
This supervisory policy helps individuals and entities determine if they are subject to the Retail Payment Activities Act and if they should register with the Bank.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory policies
Research Topic(s):
Registration
August 21, 2024
Acquisitions of control and prescribed changes
This supervisory policy explains how a registered payment service provider (PSP) should assess whether it will be the subject of a planned acquisition of control or a prescribed change.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory policies
Research Topic(s):
Registration
June 17, 2024
Significant adverse impact
This supervisory policy provides an overview of what the Bank of Canada will consider when determining whether a “significant adverse impact” is occurring or has occurred.
Content Type(s):
Retail payments supervision materials,
Supervisory policies
Research Topic(s):
Enforcement,
Supervision