Wealthsimple Payments first non-bank/credit union approved as Direct Clearer | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

BetaKit and The Canadian Press are reporting (BetaKit, 2022) (Canadian Press, 2022) on Wealthsimple's announcement, via CEO Michael Katchen's blog post on Wealthsimple Payments, Inc., becoming the first non-bank, non-credit union to be approved by Payments Canada (and the Bank of Canada, due to the de facto control over which the BoC has over Payments Canada) as a Direct Clearer in the forthcoming real-time payments system. Company press releases are normally full of hubris and exaggeration, but in this case, this is quite as monumental as they suggest because it will enable Wealthsimple directly process and clear any payments that go through the real-time payment system (i.e., EFTs, cheques, person-to-person payments, or what have you), without having to go through a bank intermediary. They'll undoubtedly contract out part of the clearing process to Symcor, as most banks and credit unions do (it's owned equally by RBC, BMO, and TD), but nevertheless, it does eliminate significant intermediaries and allows for straight-through end-to-end processing. This would also be helpful in enabling them to launch financial products and services without needing to partner with a bank or credit union.

Cheers,
Doug