Jan 17, 2018

Australian Banks brings New Payments Platform (NPP) which allow the customers to transact 24/7 real-time payment between two account or many accounts. The Banks will bring into operational service this year is estimated to be $785 million (A$ 1 billion). The NPP benefits consumers, meeting their needs for new digital-age ways of paying for goods and services. Real-time payment systems are becoming an increasing trend worldwide, as apex banks and other national bodies react to the drastic increase in electronic payment volume that has taken place over the past decade.

The real-time payment systems and the extent to which they are being rolled out around the world in an effort to upgrade the banking sector’s payments offer for their customers. Australia is poised to launch its own version soon which will deliver a payments experience for their consumers in line with other sectors like e-commerce and retail.

This new platform will facilitate fast growth in mobile-based payments allow the banks for a gradual removal of payment cards. This may take years for such change but seems inevitable. The future of payments in Australia, and across the globe, is likely to be in mobile payments linked to current accounts. This is a major move for participants in the payments market in Australia. The new infrastructure will improve the efficiency of the country’s payments system, drive innovation in the payments market and improve the user experience for consumers, businesses and the public sector.

NPP is likely to drive significant growth in online credit transfers, P2P payments and reoccurring payments/direct debits. For those banks that have invested in this upgrade now will necessarily turn to return on investment. However, over the medium to long-term, this will lead to a further decline in the use of cash, cheques and payment cards as methods of payment.

Not all banks will benefit from the new system in the same way. The most innovative banks are likely to benefit most from NPP through launching new products and services.  However, revenues will be restricted as banks will only be able to charge their commercial clients for the new payment services as consumers will expect to receive these services free of charge.