Payments Canada has announced the selection of Italian IT solution and platform developer SIA as the application provider for the country’s new high-value payments system, Lynx.
The deal – subject to negotiation of the final agreement and final regulatory approval – is part of Payments Canada’s multi-year payments modernisation initiative aimed at transforming the country’s payments system.
SIA will work closely with Payments Canada and key industry stakeholders on the next version of their ‘Real-Time Gross Settlement – RTGS’ application solution to deliver on the needs identified during consultations for the future of payments in Canada.
“SIA has a proven track record of delivering innovative, sophisticated solutions across the global payments ecosystem making them well-suited to support with the delivery of Canada’s new high-value payments system,” said Gerry Gaetz, President & CEO of Payments Canada.
“We look forward to partnering with SIA, along with our key stakeholders to ensure that the end product delivers on what Canadians asked for and ultimately strengthens Canada’s competitive advantage on the global stage.”
SIA defeated competition from UK-based Vocalink and Canadian CGI in an “extensive procurement process” that began in 2017.
The Italian company possess experience in payment infrastructures and services already having already provided a number of countries, such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden with their RTGS systems – developed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Perago.
CEO of SIA, Nicola Cordone spoke of the companies pride in being picked by Payments Canada as it acts as “further confirmation of our critical role in RTGS modernization initiatives.”
He said: “The establishment of the new Payments Canada core system marks the first time ever project for SIA in North America and further strengthens our position in the international market.
“Our secure and reliable technologies currently support 20 central banks around the world to improve their own country’s payments infrastructure in order to keep pace with the increasing speed of digital transformation,”
In the announcement Payments Canada said it’s also launched a new procurement process for combined hosting and system integration services in support of the end-to-end delivery and operations of Lynx.
