With the NPP officially launched a day before Valentine’s, and its first transaction going to the Alannah and Madeline Foundation charity for children, it is no surprise a lot will change in the way we pay and get paid.

Whether you are selling your car on Gumtree or making a donation to your much loved charity you can make it instantly – directly into their account, in most cases no middle layer holding the funds for a period.

The New Payments Platform promises faster, simpler and smarter payments.

According to Cuscal’s Senior Manager Payments and NPP Lead Nathan Churchward, there are many immediate benefits to the NPP, with more coming as services are added in future.

With Cuscal enabling NPP services for 40 banks and credit unions, plus more in the pipeline, the potential is exciting. We are focussed on enhancing security through integrating AI into our solution and leveraging the certainty of payment using PayID. With greater descriptors for a richer, more personal experience, the customers of our clients are going to see some real innovation as banking apps become even more important to their everyday lives.

With the NPP tipped to boost competition in payments and banking, Australians are set to benefit from the investment, which sees access to funds available in less than a minute as opposed to days as previously was the case. The greatest demand is expected to come initially from person to person payments, followed by small businesses for cashflow, and larger businesses for payroll and other batch payments.

We’re thrilled to have been able to play a key role in the development of the New Payments Platform, and then enabling so many financial institutions to be technically and operationally ready. On the first day, Cuscal clients were some of the only banks to be ready for full operations and accounted for over 90% of payments. They were also over-achieved in their PayID registrations.

The NPP really is a revolutionary new system which will change the banking and payments industry in Australia. Soon people will be able to receive money into their accounts in seconds, any time of the day or night. This will help overcome those points of friction in payments which we all experience and continue to accelerate the decline in cash usage. Mr. Churchward concluded.

With institutions like Cuscal enabling 40 banks, credit unions and building societies to provide customers with PayID and Osko services using the New Payments Platform on Day 1, what will be your first real time NPP transaction?

Author: Catherine Batch, Associate, Brisbane, Payments Consulting Network.