News

Real-time payments platform debuts Down Under

February 13, 2018

Three Australian banks have gone live with a real-time payments platform that will allow their customers to transfer funds instantly via PayID, a system that uses mobile phone numbers to confirm identities.

The platform initially went live in a limited deployment in November, supporting the transfer of funds between employees at various banks, according to a press release. It was launched to customers today; the first transaction was a donation to a children's charity by Adrian Lovney, CEO of Australia's National Payments platform.

"We know that Australians are frustrated about the amount of time it takes to move money between accounts at different banks, which can sometimes be as long as two to three days," Lovney said in the release. "We expect that [within] the next month or so, Australians will be able to transfer money instantly to each other through products like Osko by BPay."

Osko is the first product to be developed for the platform, according to the press release. The person-to-person service, similar to Zelle in the U.S., will be available through online or mobile banking applications.