Our favourite reads

Tech Council CEO Damian Kassabgi on the Policy Agenda (July, 2024)
Kassabgi used the organisation’s flagship event in Canberra to highlight the massive economic opportunity presented by the adoption of AI-based products and services, and to light a fire under the policy response needed to help build an AI-capable workforce. More here.

Real-Time Payments in 1000 Words (June, 2024)
Real-time payments are a critical but often misunderstood trend in global payments. This note explains how they work, what catalysed their recent growth, and why some networks are more successful than others. More here.

Australia and NPP: a real-time payments revolution (January, 2024)
Jordan Lawrence, co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Volt, discusses Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP), its effect on RTP, and the benefits for businesses and consumers. More here.

5 Reasons CFOs Should Adopt Real-Time Payments (October, 2023)
Instant or real-time payments offer speed, lower cost, easier reconciliation, and more precise control of working capital. More here.

AP+ & Thoughtworks Team to Fuel PayTo Adoption (September, 2024)
Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy, has joined Australian Payments Plus (AP+), Australia’s domestic payments organisation operating the BPAY, eftpos and NPP payment schemes, to develop new customer experience industry guidelines for PayTo. More here.

Volt introduces PayTo payments in Australia (April, 2024)
Volt launched its secure, PayTo-based payment solution for its retail customers in Australia. Through this online digital payment solution, the company intends to simplify the payment experience for customers, eliminate credit card surcharges, and enable retailers to receive payments instantly. More here.

2024 will be the year retailers wake up to safer, faster payments – or fall behind (December, 2023)
At a time where the cost of living remains stubbornly high, businesses are feeling the pinch more than ever. To hedge against this, many are adopting surcharges and forwarding those card processing fees onto consumers—putting more pressure on everyday Australians. It’s a ripple effect that only hurts the consumer in the end. More here.

Woolworths rolls out a big change to the way people shop (May, 2023)
The supermarket has become the first major company to offer customers an option to link their bank account directly to its app, using PayTo functionality introduced by Australia’s new payments platform. More here.

Generation Pay-By-Bank: Why Gen Z and Millennials Hold the Key to Widespread Adoption (October, 2024)
Pay-by-bank is carving out a niche in the consumer payments space. Incentives may be the hook needed to draw in new customers. Certain consumers report increased interest in using it when offered discounts and cash-back rewards. More here.

Surcharging Ban to Usher in New Era of Payments that Consumers Have Been Waiting For (September, 2024)
Merchants can now swap out or complement their high-cost card payment options with speedy, safe and direct account-to-account payment options. And they can do it today, regardless of when the rules are changed. More here.

Fintech Lender Plenti Clients Can Make Additional Loan Repayments with NAB Pay-By-Bank Solution (July, 2024)
Customers of Plenti have a new way to make additional loan repayments with National Australia Bank’s (NAB) pay-by-bank solution, which enables PayTo transactions. More here.

Banked and NAB Partner to Accelerate Pay-By-Bank Adoption in Australia (May, 2024)
Leading global fintech Banked and National Australia Bank (NAB) have launched a new partnership to accelerate the number of Australian merchants adopting and integrating account-to-account (A2A) payments solutions. More here.

Zepto Blazes a Trail in Account-Based NPP Payments (September, 2024)
Australia is on the cusp of a digital revolution that will transform its financial services. BECS, used for electronic debit and credit transactions, is in the process of being phased out, and is targeted for retirement by 2030. InnovationAus discuss the organisation leading the charge in the migration to the NPP (hint: it's us). More here.

AP+ Lays Out Priorities for 'Once-in-a-Generation' BECS Migration (August, 2024)
AP+, which oversees Australia’s real-time payment rails the New Payments Platform, has laid out its program of works to progress its and Australian businesses’ transition from the nation’s legacy payments transaction infrastructure, the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS). More here.

The continued migration of payments from BECS to the NPP (January, 2024)
Just like when a date was set for the end of Australian analogue TV in December 2013, a target date of 2030 has been set for the decommissioning of Australia's legacy BECS framework.  More than one third of account-to-account payments are processed today using the NPP so the migration from BECS to NPP has been occurring for some time. But there is still work to do to support ongoing migration. More here.

Modernising Australia's Payments System (December, 2023)
The payments landscape is changing rapidly, with new business models and technologies entering the space. The industry is also moving from legacy systems towards new platforms that can deliver payment services that are faster, safer and more convenient. This speech, delivered by Michele Bullock, Governor, Australian Payments Network Summit, Sydney, addresses the changing landscape. More here.

61% of Millennials Want Real-Time Payments in Finance and Insurance (October, 2024)
A PYMNTS Intelligence Report, Fast-Tracking Funds: Finance and Insurance Accelerate Payments, in collaboration with The Clearing House, shows how growing customer dissatisfaction drives financial institutions and insurers to adopt real-time payment solutions to meet consumer expectations. More here.

Use Cases Beyond Claims Moves Insurance Industry to Instant Payments (August, 2024)
There’s been a 7% increase, year over year, in instant payments used as a disbursement option in the insurance industry. Overall, 33% of consumers receiving insurance disbursements get them instantly — which poses the question; what’s going on with the other two thirds? More here.

Let Me Out – Subscription Trap Practices in Australia (August, 2024)
While subscribing to services is often quick and easy, cancelling these subscriptions can be a frustrating and time-consuming process. This report explores the impact of subscription traps on Australian consumers, solutions to address this growing issue, and more. Did someone say PayTo? More here.

One Inc CEO Says Insurance Market Is Ripe for Embedded Payments (August, 2024)
For the insurance companies, he said, “we’ve been able to reduce the cost of payouts by 60%.” That boost to margins comes as firms like Ernst and Young have estimated that by the end of the decade, 30% of insurance transactions will be done through embedded channels. More here.

Australians lose nearly $1 billion a year in card surcharges (March, 2024)
Unlike in the UK and the European Union where card surcharges are banned, retailers in Australia are allowed to recoup their payment costs through surcharging their customers, as long as they are not making a profit out of it. RBA governor Michele Bullock has threatened to mandate Least-cost routing [LCR] if the industry does not meet the target of 80 per cent uptake by the middle of the year. More here.

The Indomitable Nature of Bank Cards (March, 2024)
In the continually evolving landscape of banking and finance, one element has remained surprisingly resilient against the tides of change: the humble bank card. Since their inception in the 1950s, cards have woven into the fabric of global commerce, becoming ubiquitous in wallets and online transactions. More here.

U.S. Clings to Paper Currency Amid Global Shift to Polymer and Digital Payments (March, 2024)
The United States remains steadfast in its use of traditional paper currency, resisting the global trend towards more durable polymer notes and the expanding digital payment ecosystem. Despite the Federal Reserve's significant investment in printing new bills, experts argue for a transition to dollar coins and polymer notes for economic and environmental benefits. More here.

“It’s not about killing cards,” says founder of payments startup Banked (February, 2024)
Banked has inked a deal with US financial tech firm FIS aimed at driving new pay-by-bank offerings for consumers and businesses in the US. More here.

ACI Worldwide Study Reveals Real-Time Payments To Boost Global GDP By $285.8 Billion, Create 167 Million New Bank Account Holders By 2028 (October, 2024)
Real-time payments are forecast to generate $285.8 billion of additional global GDP growth and create more than 167 million new bank account holders by 2028, according to a new report published by ACI Worldwide in collaboration with The Centre for Economics and Business Research. More here.

The Past Decade Transformed Payments, But Wait for the Next 10 Years (March, 2024)
Most of us can see that technology holds the promise to transform the way financial services are provided to individuals and businesses. Technology has improved financial services, but not transformed how we make payments, borrow, lend, and manage our investments. But the simultaneous availability of new data sets, ubiquitous smart phones, cloud computing, and even digital currency protocols fundamentally change how financial processes could be organized. More here.

Gen Z embraces digital wallets but they actually want more (February, 2024)
A large portion of younger consumers want to explore alternative uses of digital wallets, especially for specific money transfer purposes. Despite being used mainly for purchases, they want digital wallets to offer more, such as managing and setting up recurring bills, facilitating account-to-account transfers, and investing. More here.

NAB Says Real-Time Cash and Working Capital Management Among 2024’s Banking Megatrends (January, 2024)
Although different clients of different sizes may pivot to real-time payments at different paces, NAB's Conway noted that all clients show some commonality when it comes to real-time transactions. They want those transactions to be easy. Those same clients want the transactions to be low cost. And — no surprise — corporates want assurance that their digital transactions are resilient and secure. More here.

Money20/20 Takeaways: Instant Payments Lead the Way Amid Industry Optimism and AI Remains Hot Topic (June, 2024)
As the lights dimmed on Money20/20 Europe, the show concluded with a notable takeaway: instant payments are seen as the biggest opportunity for growth, outpacing digital wallets, reward schemes, and other growth areas. More here.

Global Real-Time Payments Surged 42% in 2023 (May, 2024)
2023 was a banner year for real-time payments, with global transaction volumes rising 42% YoY to 266.2 billion, according to a new report. The report said the strong results set the stage for a period of more sustainable growth. It projected a 17% compound annual growth rate for RTP transactions through 2028. More here.

The Loonie Goes Lightning Fast: Canada's Real-Time Payments Revolution (April, 2024)
For Canadians, the concept of waiting for a payment to clear might soon feel as quaint as rotary phones and dial-up internet. Payments Canada, the overseer of the country's financial infrastructure, has announced a renewed push for its Real-Time Rail (RTR) system, promising instant transfers and a complete overhaul of how money moves. More here.

Klarna Adds Open Banking for UK Customers (March, 2024)
Swedish payments FinTech Klarna is now offering open banking-powered settlements in the U.K. “The launch means consumers can now pay Klarna directly from their bank account instead of using a debit card, bypassing card networks and marking a major milestone in Klarna’s ambition to build a payments network of the future,” the company said on March 14. More here.