Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Canadian Payments Reach $12.2 Trillion in 2024
Payment Research | Oct 3, 2025
Image: Canadian Payment Methods and Trends 2025 (Payments Canada)
Digital Payments Dominate as Canadians Move to Contactless, Mobile, and AI Commerce
On October 2, 2025, Payments Canada published the 12th edition of their annual Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report. Canada processed 22.5 billion transactions worth $12.2 trillion in 2024, with payment activity growing 3% in both volume and value year over year, showing steady momentum toward digital-first payment transactions.
Donna Kinoshita, Chief Payments Officer at Payments Canada:
“Canada’s payment ecosystem is more diverse, dynamic and fast-evolving than ever before. Innovations like real-time payments, consumer-driven banking, embedded finance and agentic commerce will continue to reshape the future of how Canadians make purchases and payments.”
Digital Payments and E-commerce
Digital payments: 86% of volume (up) and 77% of value (up)
Contactless: 13B transactions, 58% of all payments (up 11%)
Mobile contactless: 3.4B transactions (up 28%), forecast 5.7B by 2028
E-commerce: $77B, 6% of retail sales (steady growth), projected $96.7B by 2028
See: Canada’s Payments Innovation Push Gains Speed
The dominance of digital meets consumer preference for convenience and embedded financial services. Contactless is now mainstream, and mobile wallets are moving beyond early adoption. For fintechs, this unlocks opportunities in secure wallet apps, tokenization, and AI-driven checkout. Regulators will need to ensure interoperability and protection against fraud as transaction volumes accelerate.
Credit Cards and Debt trends
Credit cards: 7.5B transactions, 33% of total (up 6%)
Average transaction: $105
Cards in circulation: 112M (up 5%)
Revolving balances: 32% of Canadians carry debt, average $4,616 (up)
Credit cards are still popular, now tying debit at the point of sale. But rising delinquency and revolving debt highlight financial stress among consumers. For banks and fintech lenders, this means offering attractive card benefits while keeping an eye on rising credit risks. Policymakers should monitor household credit health to prevent instability as card usage expands.
AI-driven Commerce and New Channels
AI shopping support appeals to 28% of Canadians, nearly 40% among ages 18–34
64% of business leaders are exploring agentic AI
Social commerce: 18% interest
Live commerce: 20% interest
Smart home/social device purchasing: 13% of Canadians monthly.
See: How GPT-5’s Launch Will Transform the Fintech
AI-driven shopping assistants have arrived (no longer hypothetical) and are evolving expectations for search, recommendation, and payments. Younger demographics are especially open to participate, giving fintechs and retailers early markets to test autonomous transaction models. The investment capital flowing in agentic AI is expected to grow automated payment flows, as regulatory frameworks will need to address accountability, transparency, and consumer trust.
Cash and Financial Inclusion
Cash use: 2.5B transactions, 11% of volume (down)
Average transaction: $27
48% of Canadians still use cash weekly, 3.5 times on average
57% do not want a cashless society; only 11% fully cashless
Cash use continues to decline but is still deeply entrenched for millions of Canadians. The resistance to going cashless highlights that modernization must be inclusive. Fintech and banking players should design strategies that maintain cash access while scaling digital options. Policymakers need to safeguard vulnerable populations from exclusion in a rapidly digitizing system.
5 Year Structural Trends (2020–2024)
Total payments: +9% volume, +22% value
Online transfers: +175% volume, +219% value
Credit cards: +14% volume, +32% value
Prepaid cards: +13% volume, +31% value
EFT value: +48%
Cheque value: –24%
See: Update on Retail Payments Supervision and PSP Registry
The five-year data confirms structural realignment with transfers, cards, and prepaid instruments are increasing, while cheques continue their decline. For fintechs, the scaling of online transfers signals opportunity in peer-to-peer and cross-border solutions. Regulators must continue to balance innovation with systemic resilience, especially as volumes move away from legacy instruments like cheques.
Why It Matters
With $12.2T in transactions and one in three payments on credit cards, the system is expanding digital capacity, testing AI commerce, and experimenting with livestream and social shopping. For fintechs, banks, and regulators, the challenge is to harness innovation while ensuring resilience, access, and trust.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create aa vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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