Where to listen

In this episode of The Bank Tellers, host Sheryl Chen sits down with David Raju, President and CEO of Peoples Group, to explore Canada's pivotal moment in payments modernization. As the infrastructure powering 1,500 fintechs and processing $135 billion CAD annually, Peoples Group operates as the quiet force behind Canada's payment ecosystem—and they're about to transform it.

David shares his unique journey from CEO to startup founder and back to leading a 40-year-old trust company, bringing an agile mindset to institutional banking. He discusses how Canada's approach to real-time payments is "different, not behind," leveraging lessons learned from the UK, India, Brazil, and Europe to build fraud prevention into the foundation from day one.

Key topics covered:

-Canada's 2027 Real-Time Rails Launch: What it means for consumers, small businesses, and the fintech ecosystem -The Bank-Fintech Partnership Model: Why peaceful coexistence beats rivalry, and how infrastructure enables innovation -Payment Modernization Challenges: From 24/7 liquidity management to AI-powered fraud detection -The FiServ Partnership: How People's Group is leveraging proven technology to focus on strategy and execution -The Cost of Being a Fast Follower: Why participating in standards development matters more than discounted technology -The Future of Payments: Agentic payments, tokenized deposits, and what money movement will look like in 17 years

David offers a compelling vision of a future where payments happen seamlessly across borders, AI manages financial decisions on consumers' behalf, and the infrastructure supporting it all operates invisibly but flawlessly.

Peoples Group: https://www.peoplesgroup.com/

Follow David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidraju-yyz/