GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
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Canada Interac e-Transfer

Riya sends CAD 200.00 to Arjun by typing his email address in her bank's app — no account number shared — and he gets the money almost at once, while the two banks settle up between themselves separately and later.

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Contributor Shubham Mathure

STEP 1 / 5MESSAGE

Riya sends an e-Transfer to Arjun's email alias

Riya (sender) → Bank Alfa (sender bank)

Riya types Arjun's email address in Bank Alfa's online banking and enters CAD 200.00. She never asks for his account number — the alias is enough to address the payment.

Step 1 of 5: Riya sends an e-Transfer to Arjun's email alias

  1. 01Message
    Riya sends an e-Transfer to Arjun's email aliasRiya (sender) → Bank Alfa (sender bank)
  2. 02Message
    Interac tells Arjun money is waitingInterac e-Transfer (network) → Arjun (recipient)
  3. 03Posting
    Arjun's account is credited near-instantlyNordbank (recipient bank)
  4. 04Posting
    Bank Alfa debits Riya and holds the amountBank Alfa (sender bank)
  5. 05Settlement
    The two banks settle between themselves — separately and laterBank Alfa (sender bank) → Interbank settlement (Payments Canada)
MESSAGECLEARING OBLIGATIONSETTLEMENTPOSTING
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    Riya sends an e-Transfer to Arjun's email aliasRiya (sender) → Bank Alfa (sender bank)

    Riya types Arjun's email address in Bank Alfa's online banking and enters CAD 200.00. She never asks for his account number — the alias is enough to address the payment.

  2. 02Message
    Interac tells Arjun money is waitingInterac e-Transfer (network) → Arjun (recipient)

    Interac e-Transfer sends a notification to Arjun at the alias Riya used. This message announces the payment and points to it; it does not itself carry any funds.

  3. 03Posting
    Arjun's account is credited near-instantlyNordbank (recipient bank)

    Arjun accepts (or auto-deposit applies) and Nordbank books the credit, making CAD 200.00 available to him within moments — this is the fast experience the customer feels.

    • CR Arjun's account at Nordbank — CAD 200.00
  4. 04Posting
    Bank Alfa debits Riya and holds the amountBank Alfa (sender bank)

    Bank Alfa debits Riya's account (or holds the amount it earmarked at send) so that the CAD 200.00 is committed on its own books, pending settlement with Nordbank.

    • DR Riya's account at Bank Alfa — CAD 200.00
  5. 05Settlement
    The two banks settle between themselves — separately and laterBank Alfa (sender bank) → Interbank settlement (Payments Canada)

    Separately from the near-instant availability Arjun saw, Bank Alfa and Nordbank settle their interbank position through Payments Canada. This deferred settlement leg is distinct from — and later than — the customer's instant experience, and it is not the real-time gross settlement used by Lynx.

    Interac e-Transfer is a separate system from Lynx, Canada's high-value RTGS. The alias messaging and instant availability sit apart from this deferred interbank settlement.

    • DR Bank Alfa settlement position — CAD 200.00
    • CR Nordbank settlement position — CAD 200.00

What this simplifies: The diagram shows the customer's near-instant alias-addressed transfer alongside one deferred interbank settlement leg, and omits the multi-participant reachability, request-notification retries, and exact settlement timing of the live system.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS BEHIND THIS FLOW

Sources for this flow2
  1. Official requirement

    Interac e-Transfer ↗ — Interac Corp.

    Describes Interac e-Transfer, Canadas account-to-account consumer payment service offered through participating financial institutions online banking, introduced in 2003 and addressed by an alias such as an email address or mobile number. It is a separate system from Lynx; interbank settlement between participants is handled separately from the near-instant funds availability the customer sees. · Checked 2026-07-14

    Interac e-Transfer addresses payments by email or mobile alias; the customer sees near-instant availability while interbank settlement is handled separately by the participants.

  2. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: One sender bank, one recipient bank, and a single deferred interbank settlement leg; real Interac e-Transfer runs across many participating institutions, and the exact settlement timing and netting are handled by the participants and Payments Canada.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.