Three Prairies credit unions have joined with the tech firm in an eight-year agreement to offer a modernized payments system
Credit unions in the Prairies have teamed up with IBM Canada for a new payments system designed to meet the growing demand for digital payments.
Prairie Payments Joint Venture (PPJV) and IBM Canada have signed an eight-year agreement, the largest of its kind within Canada’s credit union system.
"Credit unions have always been innovators. From being the first to offer debit card services, ATM banking, to mobile pay and mobile banking, we know how critical it is to move faster with our payments products and digital experience offerings," said Michael Devlin, CEO, PPJV. "Changes are happening across the payments industry, such as open banking, and companies outside the financial sector entering the market with new credit cards and cryptocurrencies. All these changes promise a new era of transparency, but also increased privacy and security challenges. To keep pace, the need for payments modernization for credit unions has never been greater. We are happy to be working with IBM Canada on this initiative."
Together, the Credit Union Centrals of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba collectively represent more than 75 credit unions across the three prairie provinces. Onboarding of credit unions is expected to begin in the fall of 2020.
Dramatic shift
The credit unions will leverage the platform to drive innovative products and services as digital payments increasingly dominate payments over cash; 73% vs 21% according to Payments Canada's annual Canadian Payments Methods and Trends Report released in December 2019.
"The dramatic movement we are seeing with payment modernization is in response to the demand from Canadians for frictionless interactions, but also better privacy, security and speed," said Dave McCann, Managing Partner, Global Business Services, IBM Canada. "By hosting its payments platform in the cloud, we will ultimately enable onboarded credit unions the flexibility to rapidly innovate new digital member experiences for businesses and members across all payment types in a more efficient, safe and resilient manner."
