Regulatory Initiative: Retail Payment Activities Act, Assessment Fee Regulations – Forward Regulatory Plan 2023-2025

Retail Payment Activities Act – Assessment Fee Regulations

Retail Payment Activities Act

The Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) requires the Bank of Canada to recover its supervisory costs associated with administering the RPAA through annual assessment fees and registration fees levied on payment service providers. Regulations would establish a methodology for the annual assessment fee formula. The annual assessment fee formula was pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I in February 2023 and will be finalized after payment service providers have registered with the Bank of Canada in Fall 2024. 

The Department of Finance is working closely with the Bank of Canada on the development of an assessment fee formula to be specified in the Regulations.

When the formula is in effect, supervised payment service providers will pay annual assessment fees to defray the Bank of Canada's costs associated with fulfilling its supervisory responsibilities under the RPAA. The assessment fee formula will be structured in such a way that payment service providers that have a greater share of the total value and volume of payment activities will pay higher assessment fees compared to payment service providers with a lower share of payment activities.

Canadians were consulted in 2017 on key features of the RPAA framework. The Bank of Canada has led consultations on topics covered in the regulations through its industry consultation forum, the Retail Payments Advisory Committee.

As part of the regulation-making process, the Regulations were pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I on February 11, 2023, for a 45-day comment period.

Nicolas Marion
Senior Director, Payments Policy
Financial Sector Policy Branch
Department of Finance Canada
90 Elgin St.
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G5
Email: Nicolas.Marion@fin.gc.ca

November 2021