The NPP (New Payment Platform) is an innovative platform to give Australian consumers and institutions a new way to make everyday payments. Also known as the New Payments Platform, the NPP will allow Australians to make low-value payments 24 hours a day in less than 30 seconds. The system will operate seven days a week, 365 days a year, with no holiday breaks.
Since Australian business—just like the global economy—never sleeps, a round-the-clock payment system that can get payments into the right hands in less than a minute is a real boon for the country. The NPP is the real-time payments infrastructure that Australians need to kick their economy up to the next level.
NPP Australia
Designed for low-value payments, NPP Australia will allow customers, businesses, and other organisations to make payments and receive payments without hassle. This secure system will connect financial institutions, such as banks, credit card companies, and third-party payment processors (such as PayPal) to consumers and businesses.
Payments will be data-rich, meaning that payers and payees will have not only a timestamp to record the transaction, but also a record of the flow of currency and other information relevant to the transaction. Businesses will be able to track the successes or failures of their products and services, and consumers will be able to track their spending.
What makes NPP Australia such a boon to the Australian economy is that funds can change hands quickly. Payees can access their funds nearly as quickly as they receive payment. With the NPP, even when payees and payers have accounts in different banks, the system will free up funds at almost the speed of payment. Instant payment—and almost instant access to funds—without the extra fees that platforms like PayPal offer—will create a better way to do business.
NPP Launch Date
Originally set to launch in October 2017, the NPP will delay its launch until Australia Day, 26 January 2018, according to a 2 October 2017 article in the Guardian. The platform will offer several services from which each financial institution can choose from to provide for their customers.
Organisations and businesses who want to optimise the financial end of their business can leverage the power of the NPP to pay their creditors and employees at near real-time speeds. On the other side of the fence, they can also receive payments from their customers and have the money in their accounts within seconds.
Financial institutions that want to take their business to a whole new level can connect to the NPP platform to lessen their customers’ wait time to receive funds. Those who do not connect to the platform risk being left out in the cold, since today’s customers want convenient payment options in real time.
Customers who want a more convenient way to pay for goods, services, and existing bills will welcome the advent of the NPP. Having a centralised payment platform on which they can pay for practically anything will simplify their lives and free up time that otherwise they would have spent paying bills the old-fashioned way. Customers can even use the system to make a mobile payment—an added convenience.
To link an account with the NPP, customers and institutions will need a service called ‘PayID’ to create a seamless, simplified payment process instead of a BSB or account number.
What Is PayID?
A PayID is a unique ‘address’ that allows people to link their financial accounts to a more memorable piece of information. Most users prefer to use their email address or telephone number for their PayID, since they use them practically every day. Since few people know their BSB or account numbers by memory, this service will make the payment process all the more easy for users. Businesses and other organisations will want to integrate this function into their payment system so their customers can use the system with no worries about remembering account numbers.
To create a PayID, you need to register your chosen ID name with a financial institution that plans to use the system. Your institution will link your PayID to your actual account. That way, when you need to pay someone, you needn’t share your actual account number. All you need is to give them your PayID—and your BSB and account numbers will remain private. No more worries about stolen account numbers. With PayID, your information is safe.
PayID will work with the new Osko by BPAY service, a product designed just for the NPP. Eventually, it will include three services, but at the launch of the NPP, it will provide only one: Payment.
Payment: This Osko service will allow you to make instant payments in real time. Funds will be available almost instantaneously. It will work no matter which financial institutions you or the other party uses. You can also send a description—up to 280 characters—with your payment, so you and your payee will have a record of what the payment is for.
How Secure Is Osko by BPAY?
Transactions done through Osko by BPAY will take place using the Fast Settlement Service from the Reserve Bank. The makers of Osko have embedded a slew of safeguards to make sure your transactions are safe.
First of all, they have instituted built-in fraud screening. If a potentially fraudulent situation arises, they can slow down the payments to respond to the situation. Secondly, when you link your phone number or email address to your account with PayID, you’ll never have to share your account number or BSB with either payers or payees. To request a payment or make a payment, you’ll need to log into your bank account through the Internet as well, increasing the level of security for the new system.
How Is Osko by BPAY Different from BPAY?
BPAY has provided its customers with a secure, efficient way to receive and pay their bills. Once customers sign up for the service, they can have their bills delivered right to their mobile or Internet banking platform. Customers can view their bill and pay it through their online banking platform, adding both convenience and security to the process of paying bills.
What Osko by BPAY does is augment those functions with the ability to pay and receive money in real time. With a PayID, Osko customers will have even more security, since with the PayID, they won’t need to share their actual account number with the payee.
With these new developments in paying bills and receiving money, Australia looks to lead the way among developed nations in the financial arena.
For you—the user—it means that you’ll have a faster, more secure, and more reliable payment service that keeps records for you. It will be easy to use, require little memorisation, and will increase the speed at which you can do business.
