EFT and Interac Payments - CAD

Nium supports local CAD payouts to Canada through three domestic payment rails:

• EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) for same-day batch processing to Canadian bank accounts.
• Interac e-Transfer for near real-time payouts to bank accounts enabled with Interac.
• Interac Proxy for near real-time payouts addressed to a beneficiary's email address or mobile number enabled for auto-deposit.

Use EFT when you need broad bank account coverage and same-day settlement on business days.

Use Interac when you need faster delivery and the beneficiary can receive Interac transfers.

Use Interac Proxy when you only have the beneficiary's email address or mobile number.

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Payment method details

The following table shows the values for each CAD payout rail.

Attribute	Interac	Interac Proxy	EFT
Payout method	LOCAL	PROXY	LOCAL
Payout rail	ca_interac	ca_interac	ca_eft or blank
Beneficiary identifier	Bank account number	Email address or mobile number	Bank account number
Routing code type	BANK Code TRANSIT NUMBER	Not required	BANK Code TRANSIT NUMBER
Delivery time	15 to 60 minutes	15 to 60 minutes	Same day
Availability	7 days a week	7 days a week	Business days only
Operating hours / cutoff	05:00 to 22:30 ET	05:00 to 22:30 ET	18:00 ET
Transaction limit	CAD 0.01 to CAD 25,000	CAD 0.01 to CAD 25,000	CAD 0.01 to CAD 99,000,000
Beneficiary coverage	Canadian bank accounts supporting Interac payments	Email or mobile numbers registered for Interac auto-deposit	Canadian bank accounts that support EFT
Narrative	remitter.name and customerComments appear on the beneficiary statement	remitter.name and customerComments appear on the beneficiary statement	Not supported

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EFT processing windows

EFT payments are processed in clearing batches during the business day.

All times below are Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Window	Cutoff time	Funds available to Beneficiary
First window	04:00	11:30
Second window	13:00	18:30
Third window	18:00	23:00

If a payout is submitted before the applicable cutoff, funds are typically credited on the same business day.

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Payout lifecycle

CAD payouts follow the standard remittance lifecycle with additional Canada-specific status updates.

Step	Status	Description	Step type
1	SCHEDULED AWAITING_FUNDS CANCELLED EXPIRED FAILED INITIATED RFI_REQUESTED RFI_RESPONDED COMPLIANCE_COMPLETED REJECTED PG_PROCESSING	Standard payout lifecycle statuses. For definitions, see Track Payouts.	Generic
2	SENT_TO_BANK	EFT payouts are submitted to EFT clearing. Interac and Interac Proxy payouts are submitted to the Interac network.	Country-specific
3	PAID	For EFT, the payment has been successfully submitted to EFT clearing and is expected to complete based on the batch credit schedule. For Interac and Interac Proxy, the beneficiary has been credited, typically within 15 to 60 minutes.	Country-specific
4	RETURN	The payout was returned by the receiving bank or payment network, for example due to invalid account details, a closed account, or limit restrictions. Returns are typically received within 2 to 7 days.	Country-specific

For more information, see Payout Lifecycle.

Note: For CAD EFT payouts, PAID can include the sub-statuses PROCESSED_BY_CLEARING and DEEMED_PAID. For more information, see Track Payouts.

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Beneficiary requirements

EFT and Interac (account-based)

The beneficiary structure is the same for EFT and Interac. The only rail-specific field is payoutRail.

Beneficiary field	Inline beneficiary field	Description
payoutMethod	paymentAccount.payoutMethod	Must be LOCAL.
payoutRail	payoutRail	Use ca_interac for Interac payouts. For EFT, this can be ca_eft or omitted.
beneficiaryName	beneficiary.name	Must match the beneficiary bank account name.
beneficiaryAccountNumber	paymentAccount.accountNumber	Canadian bank account number.
beneficiaryBankCode	paymentAccount.bankCode	3-digit bank code that identifies the bank.
routingCodeType	paymentAccount.routingCode.type	Must be TRANSIT NUMBER.
routingCodeValue	paymentAccount.routingCode.value	5-digit transit number that identifies the branch.
beneficiaryCountryCode	beneficiary.addresses.countryCode	Must be CA.
beneficiaryAccountType	beneficiary.accountType	Indicates whether the beneficiary is an individual or corporate entity.
beneficiaryAddress	beneficiary.addresses.line1	Required only for clients onboarded with the Nium Canada or Australia entity.

For more information, see Customer Onboarding.

Interac Proxy

Interac Proxy payouts are addressed to a beneficiary's email address or mobile number instead of bank account details. The beneficiary must have Interac auto-deposit enabled for the proxy identifier — straight-through processing is only possible when auto-deposit is active.

Nium only processes Interac Proxy payments where auto-deposit is enabled on the proxy identifier. Payments to identifiers without auto-deposit are not supported.

Beneficiary field	Inline beneficiary field	Description
payoutMethod	paymentAccount.payoutMethod	Must be PROXY.
payoutRail	payoutRail	Must be ca_interac or omitted.
proxyType	paymentAccount.proxyType	Must be EMAIL or MOBILE.
proxyValue	paymentAccount.proxyValue	The beneficiary's email address or mobile number. See format requirements below.
beneficiaryName	beneficiary.name	Name of the beneficiary.
beneficiaryCountryCode	beneficiary.addresses.countryCode	Must be CA.
beneficiaryAccountType	beneficiary.accountType	Indicates whether the beneficiary is an individual or corporate entity.
beneficiaryAddress	beneficiary.addresses.line1	Required only for clients onboarded with the Nium Canada or Australia entity.

Return codes and troubleshooting

The following ISO return codes are commonly associated with CAD payouts to Canada.

ISO code	ISO definition	Reason	Resolution
AC03	InvalidCreditorAccountNumber	The beneficiary account number is invalid or does not exist at the receiving bank.	Verify the account number, bank code, and transit number with the beneficiary.
AC04	ClosedAccount	The beneficiary bank account is closed and cannot receive payments.	Confirm updated account details with the beneficiary before retrying the payout.
AG03	TransactionNotSupported	The beneficiary account is not Inetrac supported or auto-deposit enabled for proxy payments.	Confirm the beneficiary has Interac auto-deposit enabled for the email or mobile number provided.