Hot take: The whole 'instant bank transfer' scene in Canada flipped in about 18 months

I remember trying to move money between my own accounts at different banks maybe two years ago. It was a joke. A $500 transfer would take three full business days, sometimes longer if a weekend hit. Now, I'm seeing fintechs like Flinks and their open banking tools get used by startups to make that happen in seconds. The real shift wasn't just the tech, it was the big banks finally feeling the heat and playing along with the APIs. Before, they had no reason to speed things up. After, a bunch of new apps showed people it didn't have to be slow, and the pressure worked. It went from a major pain point to something you just expect. Has anyone else built something recently that relies on that real-time data flow, and how's the reliability been for you?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_miles25d ago

My dentist's office switched to a payment system that uses that instant flow. It's wild to go from waiting days for a check to clear to seeing the receipt before I'm out of the chair. Feels like the last bit of friction in paying for stuff just melted away.

torres.grant25d ago

Man, @the_miles, that instant money stuff is a trip. I once paid a guy for a used lawnmower with one of those apps, and he drove off before I even heard my phone ding. The speed of it all makes old school cash feel like sending a letter by pigeon.

uma_ellis22d ago

We built a small invoicing tool last year that uses Flinks to confirm payments. The uptime has been solid, maybe one hiccup in six months where payouts were delayed an hour. It lets us close our books same-day, which is a total game changer.