Understanding the New Payments Platform
The National Payments Platform (NPP) is a fast payments infrastructure that connects more than 100 banks, financial institutions and payment providers. It allows fund withdrawals and deposits in near real-time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including on weekends and public holidays.
Traditional direct entry payments can take up to three days to clear. With the NPP, transactions typically land within seconds. They’re also data-rich: each payment can carry far more remittance information than legacy systems, making it easier to automate reconciliation and track payments.
If your business depends on quick, accurate money transfers, leveraging the NPP is key, and Monoova can help you unlock its full potential.
Find out how the NPP works and how you can leverage it to introduce faster payments, improve customer experience and bring your business in line with our digital times.
How Does the NPP Work?
From cash in envelopes to cheques and direct bank transfers, payment technology is always changing. Recent years have seen a dramatic shift in this landscape, and in Australia, the New Payments Platform (NPP) sits at the heart of that transformation.
Introduced in 2018, NPP is the cornerstone of real-time, 24/7 banking. It underpins services like Osko, PayID and PayTo, helping businesses from lenders and ecommerce retailers to wealth management platforms to make money move faster, safer and smarter.
NPP payments can be made using:
BSB and account number
The payment details that many older consumers still default to.
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PayID
A simple identifier like a mobile number, email or ABN linked to a bank account (recent figures say 20% of all payments are now made using PayID).
PayTo
A new, secure way for businesses to initiate payments from a customer’s account with prior authorisation
Behind the scenes, the NPP is powered by a distributed switch of Payment Access Gateways and supported by the Reserve Bank’s Fast Settlement Service (FSS), which settles transactions between banks instantly using central bank funds.
Australia has a unique NPP that offers a single access point for third party payment initiation, includes richer payment data and enables faster, more secure transactions. In comparison, the USA relies on a variety of payment systems and platforms and does not have a single, centralised solution. The UK is catching up with a New Payments Architecture and is taking a broad approach to streamlining and modernising payments, but some experts say Australia is the frontrunner in this area.
Why the NPP Matters for Australian Businesses
The benefits of Australia’s new payments platform go beyond speed. The technology is changing how Australian businesses manage cash flow, process payments and engage with customers.
Using the NPP ensures:
- Cash flow clarity: Real-time visibility means businesses can see and track exactly when money arrives or leaves an account.
- Operational efficiency: Automated, instant payments reduce manual work and improve processing accuracy.
- Customer satisfaction: Faster, more reliable payments improve user experience and reduce friction across the board.
- Business resilience: Real-time settlement reduces reliance on batch processing and banking cut-off times.
- Transaction speed: Rapid funds transfers improve opportunities for speedy investment and reduce the costs associated with funds sitting outside their intended destination overnight.
As more businesses embrace and incorporate the NPP, more consumers are coming to expect fast, straightforward transfers and reconciliations. This technology is rapidly becoming essential infrastructure, and businesses risk losing market share to competitors if they fail to keep up.
How Monoova Helps Businesses Leverage the NPP
Monoova was one of the first two non-banks to launch real-time payments as an identified institution with NPP in 2019, tapping into the NPP’s full capabilities and also adding powerful layers of automation and integration. In 2022, it became the first provider – bank or non-bank – to operate PayTo at scale.
Here’s how we help businesses harness the NPP to increase transaction speed and improve customer experience:
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Real-Time Payments with PayTo and Osko
PayTo uses the NPP to enable real-time, account-to-account payments from a customer’s bank account to their provider. Monoova was the first to deliver PayTo at scale, and we now manage the majority of PayTo agreements in Australia.
• Payments are validated instantly
• Funds are transferred in seconds
• Immediate alerts flag failed or incomplete transactions
This technology is a smarter, safer alternative to traditional direct debits. It delivers fewer disputes, lower dishonour rates and a better experience for your customers.
Always-On Payment Transfers
Loan approved on a Sunday? Customer asking for a refund at 9 pm? With Monoova and NPP, none of this is a problem. We help our clients move money at any time, without delays or banking hour restrictions.
This is particularly valuable for:
• Lenders, who need to disburse funds quickly after approval
• Fund managers, whose clients want to make real-time transfers
• Payroll providers, so they can pay workers on the spot
• Marketplaces and platforms managing constant in-and-out fund flows
• Educational institutions that need to offer fast, reliable payment services and minimise outstanding late fees
Automated Reconciliation with Virtual Accounts
One of the biggest challenges in high-volume payment environments is reconciliation, and a common problem in the past has been ‘orphan’ transactions that can’t easily be matched to a specific customer or account.
With Monoova, customers and transactions can be assigned a unique virtual account or PayID. This links payments directly to the correct customer, automatically matching them in real time. It’s a huge time-saver for businesses that have traditionally relied on manual reconciliation.
Combined with the extra data that the NPP carries, this facilitates an automated reconciliation process that frees up finance teams and reduces the risk of errors or misallocated funds.
API-Driven Integration for Scalable Payments
The NPP is powerful, but to truly unlock it, you need to integrate it into your systems. Monoova’s single API gives businesses complete access to real-time payments, reconciliation, account reporting and more, without needing to manage multiple providers or build out in-house infrastructure.
Whether you’re a property management agency scaling fast or an established lender looking to modernise, Monoova offers a future-proof payments environment.
Compliance, Control, and Fraud Prevention
Security and regulatory compliance are central to how we work. Every NPP payment made through Monoova benefits from strong fraud controls, secure architecture and robust governance.
We support features like:
• Real-time account validation
• Detailed audit trails
• Transaction-level monitoring and alerts
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Make Your Money Move with the NPP and Monoova
More than 1.6 billion NPP transactions took place in 2024, and adoption is only accelerating.
By 2030, Australia’s legacy payment rails will be phased out, and waiting any more than a few seconds for funds to land in your account will be a thing of the past.
If you operate a business, this is an opportunity to rethink how money moves, unlock new efficiencies and drive your reputation as a progressive, efficient and customer-friendly organisation.
“The New Payments Platform is the future of money movement in Australia. It replaces slow, outdated systems with instant, 24/7 payments - unlocking innovation, improving cashflow, and setting the standard for a truly digital economy,” says Co Founder & CEO of Monoova, Christian Westerlind Wigstrom.
At Monoova, we’re helping businesses around Australia lead this change. If you’re ready to offer faster payments, more accurate reconciliation and a better experience for your customers, we’re ready to help you make money move® with NPP.
Ready to embrace real-time payments with the NPP? Speak to Monoova’s payment experts today and start making your money move faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the New Payments Platform (NPP)?
The NPP is Australia’s real-time payment infrastructure allowing instant fund transfers 24/7 with rich data support for businesses and consumers.
Q: How does the NPP benefit Australian businesses?
It enables faster payments, real-time reconciliation, improved cash flow, and reduced reliance on legacy banking systems.
Q: What are PayID and PayTo?
PayID links simple identifiers like mobile numbers or ABNs to bank accounts for easy payments. PayTo allows pre-authorised real-time payments initiated by businesses.
Q: How does Monoova support NPP adoption?
Monoova offers API integration, automated reconciliation, compliance support, and scalable infrastructure for businesses adopting NPP-powered solution
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