The new oversight framework may give the central bank a larger role by overseeing prominent payments systems, in addition to those that are systemically important. Prominent systems are one step below systemically important and are ones whose failure could still cause significant national disruption.
This could mean subjecting the CPA's Automated Clearing Settlement System, which exhibits characteristics of a prominent payment system, to Bank of Canada oversight, he added. Currently the Finance Department supervises the CPA.
"The vision for the other national retail payment systems is that they, too, would be subject to oversight that is proportional to risks," he said. Other systems include the Interac system used at retail outlets; credit card networks; and online payment schemes such as PayPal.