XMLdation and Payments Canada – A Transformational Partnership

Sometimes it’s easy to pinpoint when a fruitful relationship starts. XMLdation has worked closely with Payments Canada for nearly five years, and it all started with a meeting in 2017. 

Tricia Balfe, XMLdation’s CEO, says: “I think it was at the Nacha conference, we discovered that Payments Canada was looking to do some very interesting and innovative things to support Canada’s modernization efforts, and fortunately, we were in a position to offer some ways to help”. 

The Payments File Validation Service (PFVS)

The initial discussions led to XMLdation scoping a proof-of-concept (PoC) for Payments Canada with two banks, for payment file validation. Working with Payments Canada, XMLdation got some great feedback from Canadian banks about the challenges they face in helping integrate their corporate clients to bank systems. In the end, out of the initial PoC grew Payments Canada’s PFVS service now used by these Canadian banks and their customers, which allows for faster, more accurate testing of payment files before customers go-live with their banks. The benefits are improvements in customer experience, and significant reduction in customer implementation efforts and timelines. Besides validating files, the PFVS also simulates the files that banks send to their customers, allowing customers to better prepare for and implement automated processes.

You can read more about The Payment File Validation solution at The Payments Canada website.

The future of payments: ISO 20022 and real-time

ISO 20022 plays a big role in Canada's modernization efforts. In 2021, Payments Canada launched Lynx, the new high-value payment system. XMLdation supported Payments Canada with their Message Validation Service (MVS). Lynx participants were required to generate test messages and validate them against Lynx ISO 20022 Message Specifications in MVS prior to industry testing, which resulted in an improved participant experience and go-live deployment.

Next in Canada’s modernization journey is the launch of the first real-time payment system in Canada, the Real-Time Rail (RTR), launching in June 2023. The RTR will be API-based, and XMLdation supports Payments Canada in providing MVS to RTR participants for validating test RTR messages in JSON format. 

If you would like to read more about The Message validation service (MVS) and how it supports the introduction and use of data-rich ISO 20022 messages across the High-value payment system - Lynx and the Real-Time Rail payment system (RTR) you can do so here.

A real partnership 

XMLdation is proud to work with one of the most important and innovative clearing and settlement systems in the world, and thus support the process of payment innovation and modernisation. The journey continues, and we will be exploring ways to support Payments Canada and Canadian banks with payment file testing and payments flow simulation. 

Payments Canada has been a key partner for XMLdation. Tricia Balfe: “We’ve been delighted to gain visibility for XMLdation and see business relationships develop in North America as a result of the work we’ve done with Payments Canada. Their team has been great – in addition to the insights we’ve gained into the Canadian payment systems, we’ve been able to expand our relationships in Canada and also the US. We’ll always be grateful for that opportunity”. 

And now that we’re travelling again, you never know who you’ll run into at the next industry conference, and make that new fruitful connection.