PhotonPay’s Canadian entity has registered with the Bank of Canada as a payment service provider under the Retail Payment Activities Act.
The registration covers Photon Dance CA Inc., which was already registered with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) as a money services business. According to PhotonPay, the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) registration strengthens its regulatory base in Canada and supports the development of local financial services across North America.
Canada’s retail payments framework
The RPAA sets out a federal framework for registering and supervising payment service providers that carry out specified retail payment activities in Canada. Administered by the Bank of Canada, it includes requirements for operational risk management, incident response, and regulatory reporting, and providers that hold end-user funds must also put measures in place to safeguard them, a measure intended to strengthen oversight of Canada’s retail payments sector.
In the US, PhotonPay is registered as a money services business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and holds money transmitter licences in multiple states. In total, the company holds 35 payment licences, regulatory authorisations, and registrations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Other cross-border payment providers that have registered under the RPAA include Skydo and Yolat.
A financial OS for global businesses
PhotonPay’s API-based platform combines multi-asset wallets, local collections, global payouts, foreign exchange, card issuing, and embedded finance, supporting both fiat currencies and stablecoins. According to the company, businesses expanding internationally increasingly manage finances across different account structures, payment systems, currencies, and regulations, requiring infrastructure that meets local requirements while offering a unified view.
JP Pi, Global Chief Compliance Officer at PhotonPay, stated that global financial infrastructure must reflect the regulatory frameworks, payment systems, and fund-handling responsibilities of each market, and that the RPAA registration is another step in that approach. Founded in Hong Kong in 2015, PhotonPay has 16 offices and nearly 600 employees, and serves businesses in more than 200 countries and territories.
