Canadian payment transactions total more than $12 trillion in 2025; real-time payments appeal to over half of Canadians: Payments Canada Research

Key report highlights:

• Driven by speed and convenience, over half of Canadians (52 per cent) find the prospect of real-time payments — soon made possible by Canada’s Real-Time Rail (RTR) — appealing.
• Credit and debit card transactions combined made up 68 per cent of total payment volume, up from 63 per cent five years ago.
• E-commerce transactions accounted for 6.1 per cent of total retail sales.
• Contactless payment volume grew nine per cent year-over-year, driven largely by a 12 per cent increase in contactless credit card payments.
• The proportion of young Canadians (18-34) who have used cryptocurrency for payments grew from four per cent in 2024 to 10 per cent in 2025.
  
  

OTTAWA, Ontario, Oct. 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Payments Canada today released its annual Canadian Payment Methods and Trends (CPMT) Report. The report analyzes the 26.7 billion retail payment transactions made in 2025, totaling $12.9 trillion — a 5.7 per cent increase in value from 2024 – and explores the payment behaviours and innovations reshaping how Canadians and businesses transact.

“Our research shows that when it comes to payments, Canadians want speed, convenience, safety, choice and control — it’s what consumers and businesses have come to expect, and what Canada needs to remain competitive on the global stage,” said Donna Kinoshita, Chief Payments Officer at Payments Canada. “With the launch of Canada’s Real-Time Rail in Q4 2026, we’re enabling the payment ecosystem to meet these needs by delivering the necessary foundation to unlock innovation, choice and growth across the market.”

Credit cards remain the most used payment method for Canadians; Electronic funds transfer used for highest value

Credit (43 per cent) and debit (25 per cent) cards continue to be the most used payment methods, combining for 68 per cent of total payment volume. Electronic funds transfer (EFT) represented 12 per cent of payment volume, followed by cash (nine per cent), online transfer (six per cent), debit and cheque and prepaid cards (each around one per cent) and ABM (one per cent). Total credit card transactions grew seven per cent year-over-year to 11.6 billion. The total value of these transactions rose five per cent to $1.02 trillion.

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) led payment value at 63 per cent. This was followed by cheques (20 per cent), credit cards (eight per cent), online transfer (five per cent), debit (two per cent), cash and ABM (each one per cent).

Real-time payments emerge as a key consumer interest; Canada’s Real-Time Rail (RTR) ready for launch in Q4 2026

Over half of Canadians (52 per cent) find real-time payments appealing. Emerging use cases for real-time payments that could drive adoption include:

• Gig worker payouts — addressing pain points around speed, reconciliation, cost and accessibility of earned wages for gig economy participants.
• Instant payment settlements for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) — more than one in three SMEs (37 per cent) say payment delays are a significant pain point. Instant settlement can reduce chargeback risk and improve cash flow and business forecasting.
• Immediate loan funding — both consumers and businesses could potentially receive loans instantly, meaning greater convenience and access to emergency funds while avoiding high-interest predatory loans.
• Instant supplier payments — can improve supplier liquidity, giving businesses more certainty that payments are made on time.
  
  

Canada’s forthcoming Real-Time Rail (RTR) is critical national payment infrastructure that will allow Canadians to safely send and receive instant data-rich payments any time of day or night, 365 days a year. Acting as a foundation for innovation in Canada’s payment ecosystem, the RTR will provide consumers and businesses greater flexibility in their daily transactions.

"Canada's Real-Time Rail holds the potential to positively transform Canada's economy, driving billions in economic gains and helping to enable long-term national prosperity," said Susan E. Hawkins, President and CEO, Payments Canada. "In laying this foundational infrastructure, Payments Canada, its members, partners and regulatory leaders are equipping Canada to innovate and grow. This is the start line, not the finish line. The RTR's true potential is within our collective reach, and we must continue to build on it."

Beyond everyday convenience, the RTR is projected to deliver a major boost to Canada’s economy. Over the next 10 years, the RTR will generate between $5.3 billion and $14.5 billion in cost savings and $16 billion in total economic gains. As new capabilities are introduced that enable use cases such as earned wage access, person-to-person transfers, insurance disbursements, and more, these economic gains could increase to $27 billion, transforming Canada’s economy.

Canadians’ purchasing behaviours and preferences continue to evolve

E-commerce accounted for 6.1 per cent of total retail sales in 2025 with just under three in five Canadians (58 per cent) making an online purchase in a given month. The number of online shoppers who paid with a credit card rose to 61 per cent — an 11 per cent increase from 2024.

Buy now, pay later services increasingly popular among young Canadians

Nearly one in five businesses (17 per cent) now offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) options to their customers as over a quarter (26 per cent) of Canadians report using the service. Younger Canadians (18-34) find BNPL more appealing, with 39 per cent using the service for a purchase in 2025.

Agentic commerce faces consumer hesitation

Using AI tools and agentic commerce could potentially make it easier and more convenient for consumers to research potential purchases and complete a transaction, though Canadians remain highly skeptical.

Only one in four Canadians (24 per cent) find agentic commerce appealing, while over two in five (43 per cent) do not. Canadians cited concerns over data security (58 per cent), unpredictable purchasing decisions (52 per cent), loss of personal connection with retailers (51 per cent), fraud liability (48 per cent) and difficulty reversing unauthorized purchases (47 per cent) as reasons for being skeptical of agentic commerce.

Contactless payments continued strong growth

Contactless payment volume grew nine per cent in 2025, driven largely by a 12 per cent increase in contactless credit card payments. Canadians used contactless payments most often at grocery stores and supermarkets, accounting for 62 per cent of contactless transactions. This was followed by gas stations (44 per cent), restaurants/bars (39 per cent), pharmacies (38 per cent), quick service restaurants (38 per cent) and convenience stores (31 per cent).

The largest increase in contactless payment usage was on public transit with tap payments rising eight points from 2024 to 14 per cent as more jurisdictions began to allow credit and debit payments on transit systems.

Cryptocurrency payment use grows, especially among young Canadians

The proportion of Canadians who have used cryptocurrency for payments increased to five per cent from three per cent a year ago, driven by young Canadians (18-34), whose usage more than doubled from four per cent to 10 per cent. Top reasons for using cryptocurrency include:

• Greater privacy/anonymity (39 per cent)
• Quicker transactions (26 per cent)
• Lower transaction fees (22 per cent)
  
  

Key five-year payment method trends (2020-2025):

Canadian payments grew in both volume and value over the past five years, reaching 26.7 billion transactions worth $12.9 trillion in 2025. Growth and trends among payment methods over the past five years:

• Online transfers led growth in volume at 110 per cent, with credit cards following at 75 per cent.
• Prepaid cards ranked third in volume growth at 30 per cent, despite representing just one per cent of total volume.
• EFT value continued to rise, increasing by 59 per cent.
• Cheque value continued to fall, declining by 16 per cent in the past five years.
• Cash volume grew five per cent over the five-year period, reflecting a post-pandemic reset in usage patterns.
  
  

Download the full report and fact sheet.

About the study:
Payments Canada worked with payment service providers, payment consultants and researchers to compile a comprehensive 2025 data set and provide insights into how Canadian consumers and businesses pay, combining industry data and market research. Industry data is derived primarily from the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS) data, industry payment card usage data and quantitative and qualitative market research sources. Data is also collected from payment service providers and payment networks. Survey research is used to fill data gaps and provide detailed insights. Lynx transactions are excluded to avoid double-counting, as the payment volume and value information are derived from the clearing data.

About Payments Canada:
Payments Canada enables prosperity, productivity and safety for Canada through trusted, critical national payment infrastructure. As a public-purpose organization, we own and operate Canada’s critical national payment systems: Lynx, our high-value payment system; the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS), our retail batch payment system; and Canada’s forthcoming Real-Time Rail (RTR) payment system. We establish the by-laws, rules and standards that govern these systems, which cleared and settled $103 trillion in 2025 — more than $411 billion every business day. Transactions that pass through our systems include debit card payments, pre-authorized debits, direct deposits, bill payments, wire payments and cheques. In collaboration with our diverse membership, we continue to modernize Canada’s payment ecosystem to promote innovation, competition and deliver efficiencies that power a modern economy.

For media inquiries, please visit Payments Canada’s media centre.

Media contact: vmcmullen@payments.ca