Six Months On, And Down Under, Looking At A New Payments Platform

Looking backwards and forwards from the six month vantage point can be instructive.

Especially when it comes to payments.

And in an interview with Karen Webster, Adrian Lovney, CEO of NPP Australia, and Nathan Churchward, head of cards, payments and fraud products at Cuscal, weighed in on just what’s changed and what’s to come when it comes to the New Payments Platform.

The NPP had signed on with 65 FIs at launch.  Now there is ubiquity of reach in a country of about 28 million people.  Coverage of roughly 85 percent of accounts is nothing to sneeze at, but there is more work to be done.

The infrastructure is adaptable, to make the leap into corporate payments, which is an eventuality on the radar.

Lovney noted that there are two classes of payments. There are time-sensitive transactions, he told Webster. “These might include salary payments, for people who work irregular hours,” he said.  “Or they may include emergency benefits or insurance payments.”

The other strata of payments?  Think of the ones that rely on data — and lots of it.  This is where speed is not as important.  The 24/7/365 nature of the platform becomes critical, and can be relied on for everything from 401-K  (or superannuation) payments to electronic invoicing to supply chain transactions.

“It is not just an infrastructure play,” said Churchward of NPP, “it is a product play and has been from day one.”

And, added Lovney, “Now we are seeing a bit of a scramble from late starters who thought they would sit back and see what happened.” He said with anticipation that NPP will see “an exponential growth rate.”

Find out what’s been done and what needs to be done, still, by clicking here.