THAT the Chief Administrative Officer and City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to sign a banking resolution document between the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and the Corporation of the City of Windsor, subject to review as to form by the City Solicitor and to technical and financial content by the CFO/Treasurer, as presented herein Appendix A – 'Resolution Regarding Banking'.

Executive Summary:

N/A

Background:

The two current acceptable methods of distributing payments to Ontario Works (OW) recipients are by way of cheque and direct bank deposit (DBD). In 2016, the Province of Ontario introduced a safer and easier option for clients to receive and use their social assistance benefits: a Reloadable Payment Card. This payment card option would also assist those individuals that are unable to open or maintain a bank account to allow for the receipt of their benefits on a reloadable payment card instead of a paper cheque.

The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) worked with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to launch the Right Pay Card (RPC) program. The card is designed to look and work in the same way as an RBC debit card but would not require a bank account. Each month that a client is eligible for social assistance benefits, funds would be loaded onto the card and clients could then use their card to make ATM cash withdrawals as well as in-store or online purchases and payments.

In 2017, the City of Toronto successfully transitioned from an existing prepaid card to the RBC RPC for payments to OW recipients in Toronto. The next phase of implementation was expansion of the RPC to OW recipients across the province. In the summer of 2019, the RPC began expanding to OW Delivery Agents that opted-in to the program, as it is not mandatory to provide the RPC payment method to OW recipients. The City of Windsor opted-in to enhance customer service and is targeting an implementation date of April 2020.

Discussion:

Over the past few months, City Administration has been working with RBC to establish business processes as well as an RBC deposit account for the purposes of funding cards and administering the RPC program.

To facilitate the opening of this account, an RBC Master Client Agreement for Business Clients (MCA) must be executed. The MCA includes terms and conditions associated