The Future Is Arriving in Real Time
The future of financial services in Canada is no longer on the horizon. It’s happening now.
At this year’s Canada Fintech Forum, leaders from banks, fintechs, and innovators across the ecosystem explored how real-time payments, open banking, AI, and cross-border innovation are reshaping the financial landscape.
Flinks was proud to be part of the conversation, with our COO Dominique Samson introducing Jeet Bhatti, CEO of Fathom4Sight, for a forward-looking session on the forces defining 2025 and beyond.
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Here’s what stood out across the event’s key sessions.
Real-Time Payments: Canada’s Long-Awaited Leap Forward
The arrival of Real-Time Rail (RTR) marks one of the biggest shifts in Canadian payments in decades.
Leaders from Desjardins, BMO, and National Bank outlined how RTR will allow Canadians to send and settle payments instantly, 24/7 — creating efficiency for businesses and new experiences for consumers.
Beyond speed, RTR brings data-rich transactions and a chance to rebuild payment infrastructure from the ground up.
Banks see opportunities in new business models, such as instant payroll and treasury optimization, but also face challenges in maintaining resiliency and preventing fraud as transaction volumes rise.
Bottom line: Real-time payments will make money move faster, but the real innovation lies in what gets built on top of it.
Borderless by Default: Cross-Border Finance Gets a Redesign
As global migration and digital trade surge, cross-border fintech has evolved from niche to necessity.
Executives from Scotiabank, Portage, and VoPay highlighted how embedded finance and stablecoins are transforming the way funds move internationally, making it faster, cheaper, and more inclusive.
Stablecoins, in particular, are gaining traction as a settlement layer between currencies, while fintechs are using data and APIs to create cross-border experiences that make international transactions feel local.
The takeaway: Collaboration, not competition, is defining this new phase. Partnerships between banks, fintechs, and data platforms like Flinks are key to making borderless finance work securely and at scale.
The Big Bang Moment: AI, Open Banking, and the Next Wave
Jeet Bhatti’s “Fintech Review” made one thing clear: Canada is entering its Big Bang era, where four transformative technologies are converging at once:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Real-Time Rails (RTR)
- Open Banking
- Stablecoins and Tokenization
Together, these technologies will reset the financial value chain, changing how institutions serve clients and how consumers experience money.
AI is already driving smarter underwriting, personalization, and fraud prevention. Open banking will accelerate this through secure, consent-driven data sharing — a cornerstone of Flinks’ work.
Bhatti also pointed to emerging white spaces: SME succession planning, senior-focused financial tools, and stablecoin-based rewards programs.
Her message: “This convergence will change the value chain — the players who lead in data and collaboration will define the next decade.”
Collaboration Is the New Competitive Edge
Across all sessions, one theme kept resurfacing: fintech has matured.
We’re moving from disruption to collaboration, from isolated innovation to integrated ecosystems. Challenger banks, credit unions, and fintech platforms are partnering rather than competing head-on. They're sharing infrastructure, APIs, and data access to deliver better products and meet customer expectations faster.
At Flinks, we see this momentum every day. Our mission is to make financial data accessible, secure, and actionable, empowering innovators to build trust and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Whether it’s enabling open banking, supporting real-time payments, or powering embedded finance, we’re building the connective tissue for Canada’s next fintech chapter.
Looking Ahead: From Momentum to Measurable Change
With open banking frameworks maturing, real-time payments moving from pilot to production, and AI now embedded in core decision-making, Canada’s fintech sector has entered its most dynamic phase yet.
The groundwork is finally translating into impact: new products are reaching the market faster, partnerships are scaling globally, and data connectivity is driving smarter, more inclusive financial experiences.
At Flinks, we’re proud to help power this shift by enabling innovators across the ecosystem to connect, collaborate, and build at the speed of data.
Ready to move faster?
The future of finance is being built in real time. And data is the foundation.
See how Flinks helps you power innovation with open banking and real-time connectivity.
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