Australia Accelerates Real-Time Payments Shift

Australia’s New Payments Platform, launched in 2018, enables 24/7 real-time clearing and settlement across banks and supports services including PayID and PayTo. The infrastructure is becoming central to the country’s shift away from batch payments and cheques, giving companies faster cash-flow visibility and richer transaction data. The change also opens room for fintechs and digital banks to build payment, treasury and fraud-prevention products on modern rails.

Westpac Institutional Bank on May 28, 2025, released a Nielsen study of 113 decision-makers at Australian companies with annual revenue above A$150 million. The survey found 99% recognised the need to move to real-time payments, while 57% planned to transition within three years and 23% within one year. Some 65% expected a significant boost to their market position, but 43% had no current plan, highlighting a gap ahead of the planned wind-down of cheques by 2029 and BECS by 2030.