As part of its initiative to modernize Canada's core national clearing and settlement framework and infrastructure, the Candian Payments Association is creating a shared vision for the future of payments in Canada based on research, a global perspective, and industry views.

The association and the Bank of Canada this week released research that supports this initiative, outlining the most critical issues the industry must investigate to improve the payment system to best meet the needs of Canadians, according to a press release.

"There are many options for the future of payment systems and many opinions on what should take top priority," said Carol Ann Northcott, vice president of risk, security and research, and chief risk officer at the association. "This research gives us a way of assessing the issues and the tradeoffs in a comprehensive and systematic way."

The research is intended as a tool to evaluate the ability of a payment system to balance Canadian public policy objectives of safety and soundness, efficiency and end-user interests given the attributes of the system, according to the announcement. These attributes, which can be used to characterize any payment system, are access, functionality, interoperability, timeliness of payments and risk management. The research points to three areas of focus as the industry considers modernizing Canada's national clearing and settlement system:

"The global payments ecosystem is changing, enabled by new technology and driven by changing user demands," Gerry Gaetz, president and CEO of the association, said in a statement. "In Canada, we are taking a holistic approach to modernizing our systems, which includes significant research, a global perspective and industry consultation. This particular piece of research is a first step and will help frame industry discussions as we move forward."