Compare payment rails, side by side

Send an instant, irrevocable credit-push payment between US banks

Both settle in seconds; the split is the settlement model. FedNow settles directly across each bank's Federal Reserve master account, while RTP settles by moving positions inside a prefunded joint account at the FRBNY (so RTP participants carry the liquidity burden of keeping that position funded).

Move USD between US bank accounts (e.g. a business or payroll payment)

Pick ACH when batch and low cost win (entries clear end-of-day and settle across Fed accounts on the settlement date); pick RTP when the payment must be instant and final, credit-push only, settled in seconds via the prefunded joint account.

Move CAD account-to-account between two Canadian banks in (near) real time

Interac e-Transfer is the live incumbent (alias-based, credited in seconds, with deferred net interbank settlement). The Real-Time Rail is the planned successor that settles in central bank money at the Bank of Canada in real time, but it has NOT launched (Payments Canada targets a late-Q4-2026 go-live and the date has slipped), so today the e-Transfer is the one you can actually send.

Clear and settle a CAD interbank payment through Payments Canada

Pick Lynx for high-value, time-critical wires that must be final immediately (real-time gross settlement, each payment irrevocable in central bank money, no inter-participant credit risk); pick ACSS / EFT for everyday retail batch items (direct deposits, PADs) that exchange in batches and settle on a deferred multilateral NET basis the next business day.

Run a sponsor-bank card program where a fintech owns the UX and the bank is issuer of record

Same BaaS shape on both sides (a fintech program manager owns the UX and ledger, a sponsor bank is issuer of record and holds cardholder funds in an FBO account, settlement runs bank-to-bank). The differences are jurisdiction and structure: a Canadian Schedule I prepaid program (OSFI / FCAC) versus a US neobank debit program (OCC / CFPB) that also carries a program-manager-funded reserve to collateralize program losses.