PayTo Archives

Over 70% of NPP Identified Institutions enabled by Cuscal now certified to provide PayTo services

Posted on November 29, 2022October 26, 2023 by Marketing Team

Sydney, 29 November 2022

A further 10 authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) have been enabled by Cuscal to offer PayTo services to customers. This brings the total number of ADIs connected to PayTo through Cuscal to 26, covering 33 bank brands, with eight payment service providers certified to provide PayTo Payment Initiation services to businesses.

The latest ADIs to be certified by Cuscal as Payer Participants are: Australian Mutual Bank Limited, Community First Credit Union, Central Murray Credit Union, Geelong Bank, Goulburn Murray Credit Union, Illawarra Credit Union, Orange Credit Union, South West Slopes Credit Union, The Mac and Unity Bank Limited (Unity Bank, Reliance Bank).

Clients certified to offer PayTo will make services available to their customers over the coming days and weeks, based upon their individual service delivery strategies and rollout plans.

About Cuscal
Cuscal was the first directly connected participant to be certified by NPPA as an Initiating Participant and Payer Participant for PayTo Cuscal facilitated the creation, orchestration and initiation of the first live PayTo payment on the NPP.

Cuscal’s NPP solution is the only fully compliant solution currently in market delivering all the features of the NPP, with access to all the flows and options for NPP messaging and services, optimising the PayTo and real-time payment experience for customers.

With over 4 years NPP implementation experience, enabling 60+ implementations since 2018, Cuscal has helped more organisations to access the NPP than anyone else, including more than half of all financial institutions and all of the payment service providers that are providing payments on the Platform today.

About the New Payments Platform (NPP)
The NPP enables smarter, faster and simpler payments for businesses and consumers, including PayID and PayTo, a new digital way for merchants and businesses to initiate real-time payments from customers’ bank accounts. PayID is a registered trademark of NPP Australia Limited. Osko is a registered trademark of BPAY Pty Ltd. NPP Australia Limited and BPAY Pty Ltd are part of the of Australian Payments Plus group. For more information visit www.nppa.com.au

Media contact
Simone Perryman, sperryman@cuscal.com.au

Pathways to access PayTo as an Initiating Business or Payment Initiator

Posted on November 17, 2022October 26, 2023 by Marketing Team

As more banks (and by extension millions of customers) progressively connect to the PayTo ecosystem, attention is shifting to those businesses that have been enabled as PayTo Users and the innovative use cases that they are bringing to market.

But in an ecosystem of directly and indirectly connected participants, what pathways are open to businesses to access PayTo and the New Payments Platform (NPP)? And what role do different PayTo Users play in the creation, initiation and settlement of payments?

In this article we aim to shine a light on these questions.

The PayTo ecosystem

PayTo is an interconnected network of participants that connects customers, business and their financial institutions, facilitating the creation of PayTo agreements and ensuring the smooth flow of payment initiation requests and settlement of funds in real-time.

Figure 1: PayTo participant ecosystem

While banks are instrumental when it comes to facilitating the authorisation and management of PayTo agreements by customers and settling funds when valid payment initiation requests are received, PayTo Users are the main players when it comes to the creation and initiation of PayTo agreements.

PayTo Users

In the PayTo ecosystem there are two types of PayTo Users: the Initiating Business and the Payment Initiator.

Initiating Businesses are responsible for entering into PayTo agreements with the debtor customer, defining the PayTo agreement terms that will be registered in NPPA’s Mandate Management Service (MMS) and authorised by the customer through their digital banking channel, and initiating requests for payment in accordance with the agreed terms.

Payment Initiators are responsible for the exchange of PayTo agreement creation and payment messages to/from the Initiating Businesses with the wider PayTo ecosystem, via APIs provided by the sponsoring Initiating Participant.

Initiating Participants

To access PayTo as a Payment Initiator, businesses need to be sponsored by an Initiating Participant: either a Connected Institution or an NPP Participant or Identified Institution that has been certified as a Payment Initiator.

Connected Institutions are only able to use the non-value messaging capabilities of the NPP Basic Infrastructure to create a PayTo mandate and send a Payment Initiation Request. They cannot clear or settle payments or issue or manage PayIDs.

NPP Participants and Identified Institutions that have been certified as a Payment Initiator have access to all flows and options for NPP messaging and services, delivering end-to-end payment initiation, PayID issuance and management, and clearing and settlement services through a single provider.

Clearing and settlement services can only be provided by an NPP Participant licensed by APRA as an Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution (ADI)This helps to keep payments safe because as ADIs, NPP Participants meet the prudential requirements set by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to operate in the regulated payments environment and have access to RBA settlement facilities. Like in other payment systems, the NPP Participant can sponsor other organisations to provide clearing and settlement services on their behalf, and in the NPP, these entities are referred to as Identified Institutions.

Figure 2: Cuscal NPP services compared to other directly connected participants

Why Cuscal

As the first directly connected participant to be certified by NPP Australia (NPPA) as an Initiating Participant and Payer Participant, Cuscal plays a unique role in the PayTo ecosystem.

As a certified Initiating Participant, Cuscal connects high volume and high growth businesses, payment service providers, platforms and payment facilitators to the NPP as Identified Institutions and Payment Initiators, providing access to all the features of the NPP under a sponsorship arrangement. Businesses can connect to PayTo as an Initiating Business through a Payment Initiator under a proprietary commercial arrangement with a Payment Initiator that has been connected to the Platform by Cuscal.

As a certified Payer Participant, Cuscal provides banks, credit unions and mutual banks with access to the services required to receive, process and manage PayTo agreements and payment initiation requests, as well as the infrastructure required to clear and settle payments.

At Cuscal we have been helping our clients to access Australia’s payment systems with innovative solutions for over 50 years. As the market leader in providing NPP services, with over 4 years NPP experience enabling 60+ implementations since 2018, we’ve helped more organisations to access the NPP than anyone else, including more than half of all financial institutions and all of the payment service providers that are providing payments on the Platform today.

With the launch of PayTo, Cuscal has the scale, expertise, trusted industry position and comprehensive real-time account-based payment and payment initiation solutions required by Payment Initiators.

To find out more about connecting to PayTo as a Payment Initiator and how you can provide PayTo services to your business customers, contact Cuscal.

PayTo ecosystem expands with certification of 12 Cuscal clients

Posted on October 4, 2022October 26, 2023 by Marketing Team

Sydney, 4 October 2022

Cuscal Limited today announced that 12 clients have been approved to offer PayTo services to consumers and businesses, expanding the number of Identified Institutions certified as Payer Participants and Initiating Participants.

Payer Participants enabled by Cuscal
The following clients have been certified by Cuscal as Payer Participants: Bank Australia, BankWAW, Broken Hill Community Credit Union, Credit Union SA, Defence Bank, First Option Bank, Horizon Bank, Laboratories Credit Union, Police & Nurses Limited (P&N Bank, bcu) and RACQ Bank, joining Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Great Southern Bank and People’s Choice that received certification from NPP Australia Limited (NPPA) in September.

Each of these organisations will now make PayTo available within their digital banking channels.

Initiating Participants enabled by Cuscal
Global Payments (eway, ezidebit) and Merchant Warrior have been certified by Cuscal to provide PayTo initiation services to businesses, joining Azupay, Ezypay, Monoova, Paypa Plane and Zai as Initiating Participants.

Commenting on the growing number of participants connected to PayTo through Cuscal, Nathan Churchward, Head of Product, Emerging Services said:

Successful completion of the certification process by such a diverse group of Identified Institutions at the same time is testament to the value of partnership and collaboration when it comes to advancing complex industry programs like PayTo. With over 14 bank and credit union brands and 8 payments service providers now connected to the PayTo ecosystem through Cuscal, we are cementing our position as the undisputed leader in the provision of enterprise NPP services.

About Cuscal
Cuscal was the first participant to be certified by NPPA as both an Initiating Participant and Payer Participant for PayTo. Cuscal facilitated the creation, orchestration, and initiation of the first live PayTo payment on the NPP.

With over 4 years NPP implementation experience, enabling 60+ implementations since 2018, Cuscal has helped more organisations to access the NPP than anyone else, including more than half of all financial institutions and all the payment service providers that are providing their customers with payments on the Platform today.

Media contact
Simone Perryman, sperryman@cuscal.com.au

PayTo for business. The always-on digital way for businesses to initiate real-time payments from customers’ bank accounts.

Posted on September 14, 2022October 26, 2023 by Marketing Team

The rollout of PayTo capabilities to online banking channels, with Great Southern Bank leading the way, has sharpened focus on ‘how’ and ‘why’ businesses should become initiating participants to enable real-time and future dated payments from their customers’ bank accounts.

In this post we look at how PayTo can help initiating businesses thrive in a digital economy with fast, reliable and secure payments that keeps money moving 24/7.

The case for PayTo

As an enabler of real-time digital commerce, PayTo supports a broad range of use cases, delivering tangible benefits for the initiating business, including:

Explicit customer authorisation before any payments can be processed from bank accounts, addressing one of its biggest payment challenges facing businesses today; the requirement for consent via Strong Customer Authentication to reduce the risk of fraud, unauthorised payments and chargebacks.

Message response times that are delivered in seconds, confirming that valid account details have been provided, that payment has been authorised by the account owner, and that funds are available at time of payment, improving the certainty of successful payment outcomes for the initiating business.

The real-time settlement of funds at time of payment to improve cashflow availability for reinvestment in the business.

From an operational perspective the data-rich ISO messaging capabilities of the NPP enables more precise transaction data to be included within payment initiation and clearing and settlement messages. Data that more accurately describes the terms of the payer customer’s authorisation, including; payment type (recurring, one-off or ad hoc), any ultimate creditor’s name, descriptions and creditor’s reference(s), all support the easier reconciliation of payments. This also provides richer data insights that businesses can use to tailor their products and services to optimise customer experience.

The format of PayTo mandates and the data that can be included offers significant benefits in terms of data quality and visibility, compared to the relatively opaque nature of direct debit arrangements established under the BECS Direct Entry system, particularly if the payment is being facilitated via an intermediary.

Taken individually, each feature of a PayTo mandate improves an aspect of the payment experience. Taken together they can help lower the total cost of payment acceptance for the initiating business.

How to connect to PayTo as a Payment Initiator or Initiating Business

Payment service providers, platforms and payment facilitators that process payments on behalf of other businesses, as well as high volume and high growth businesses that process their own payments, can connect to PayTo as a Payment Initiator through Cuscal, the market leader in NPP. Benefits include:

Only one access point required to initiate payments with all financial institutions connected to the NPP.
APIs supporting seamless integration and straight-through processes.
Structured data capabilities to support automated reconciliation.
Centralised, secure storage of PayTo mandates reducing the reputational risk from payments data breeches.

Other businesses can connect to PayTo as an Initiating Business through a Payment Initiator, benefiting from:

Real-time account validation when a mandate is created.
PayTo authorisation by the account owner through secure bank channels.
Real-time funds verification at the time of payment.
Real-time notification of payment outcomes.
Faster settlement compared to other payment methods.
Integration of notifications into customer service and support processes when a PayTo mandate is paused, changed or cancelled.

With PayTo now live in banking channels are you ready to transform your business with PayTo? To find out more about connecting to PayTo as a Payment Initiator, contact Cuscal.

Transform your business with PayTo

Posted on July 5, 2022October 27, 2023 by Marketing Team

Leveraging the data-rich capabilities of the New Payments Platform (NPP), PayTo delivers insight rich, convenient and trusted payment arrangements for merchants, businesses and government agencies, while consumers benefit from having more control and visibility over payments set up from their bank account.

As PayTo commences rolling out to payments service providers and financial institutions over the coming months it is set to modernise the way bank accounts are used for payments, underpinning innovation for years to come in how we pay and get paid. Representing a step change in account-to-account payments, PayTo is much more than just a real-time alternative to direct debit. PayTo streamlines in-app payments, card-on-file arrangements, funding for digital wallet and buy-now-pay-later services and recurring e-commerce payments.

Accessing PayTo

Payments service providers, fintech and enterprise interested in initiating payments themselves, or on behalf of another third-party, can connect to PayTo via Cuscal. As a market leader in the NPP, Cuscal has the scale, experience, technical knowledge and trusted industry position to help payments service providers, fintech and enterprise compete and succeed with PayTo.

Merchants, businesses and government agencies interested in offering PayTo as a payment option for customers can now access PayTo services through a payments service provider connected to the Platform. Some of the leading innovators on the Platform today have integrated with PayTo through Cuscal’s Payment Initiator Service, building on top of our service to bring to life new innovative PayTo propositions.

Azupay

Established in 2019, Azupay is an Australian fintech focused on payment solutions using the New Payments Platform (NPP) technology, specialising in real-time payments using NPP and PayID to help government, business and consumers pay and get paid faster. www.azupay.com.au

Eway

Eway is a global omnichannel payment provider, processing ecommerce payments for merchants through a secure and reliable online payment gateway that makes it easy to accept payments from anyone, anywhere, from any device. www.eway.com.au

Ezidebit

Ezidebit is one of Australia’s leading online payment solution provider specialising in securely collecting Direct Debit, BPAY, EFTPOS and real-time payments for businesses. www.ezidebit.com

Ezypay

As one of Australia’s leading subscription payment providers, Ezypay offers a suite of easy-to-use subscription management services through their cloud-based payment platform, making it easy for businesses to settle payments and generate revenue through a standalone web interface, or directly integrated into a range of industry specific partner platforms. www.ezypay.com.au

GoCardless

GoCardless is a global leader in account-to-account payments, helping businesses accelerate the collection and management of recurring and one-off payments directly from customers’ bank accounts. With a global payments network and technology platform, GoCardless processes US$30 billion of payments for 65,000 businesses across more than 30 countries every year. www.gocardless.com

Monoova

Monoova supports scaling businesses with large, and often complex, ongoing transaction flows to fully automate how they receive, manage, pay and request payment of funds through one simple API integration. Its proprietary platform allows businesses to access a variety of payments functions, comprehensive reconciliation and reporting options and entirely customised real-time data. www.monoova.com

Paypa Plane

Australian fintech Paypa Plane helps banks and PSPs rapidly evolve product offerings without changing existing infrastructure through it’s simple ‘plug-in’ over the top bank-grade platform and white-label solutions, helping banks and PSPs create closer, more valuable and long term relationships with their small and medium business customers. www.paypaplane.com

Zai

Zai helps mid-market and enterprise-level business customers in the world of integrated financial services automate complex payment workflows and reconcile pay ins and payouts, helping them operate more effectively by saving time and money so they can scale and grow. www.hellozai.com

Cuscal enabling PayTo for financial institutions, payments service providers, fintechs and enterprise

Posted on June 30, 2022November 7, 2023 by Marketing Team

Sydney, 30 June 2022

Following the announcement that NPP Australia has opened access to PayTo for the first payments service providers, Cuscal announced today it is enabling 45 financial institutions and payment services providers with access to PayTo as rollout commences over the coming months.

Cuscal was one of the founding financial institutions that established the New Payments Platform (NPP), Australia’s real-time payment system, and enabled over 60% of the financial institutions that were live on Day 1.

Since that time, Cuscal has strengthened its position as the market leader in NPP services, building a strong foundation of clients, industry relationships, expertise and scale over the last five years.

Cuscal currently:

Provides access to the NPP for over half of all financial institutions and payment service providers on the platform that offer real time payments to their customers
Processes 18% of payments made and 19% of payments received on the NPP

Cuscal is working closely with a large group of banks, payments service providers and software providers to support the ramp up of PayTo over the next few months. Cuscal’s PayTo development and implementation project has included many financial institutions and PSPs who wish to drive payment innovation and improved customer experiences using PayTo.

Bianca Bates, Chief Client Officer and Deputy CEO, Cuscal Limited, said:

Cuscal is able to support a wide range of capabilities. We are about enabling competition. We provide services that let our clients innovate and develop their businesses. It has been a rewarding process to work with our financial institution and payment service provider clients to enable them to be the early adopters for PayTo.

The first group of financial institutions and payment service providers integrating with PayTo through Cuscal will go-live between July and September, followed by fast followers between October and December. The gradual ramp up of PayTo is expected to be completed in 2023 with full industry adoption.

Cuscal’s NPP infrastructure, scalable solution design and modular API services have made it possible for both existing and new clients who are focused on investing in innovation for their customers, to extend their NPP services to access PayTo, ensuring they are at the forefront of future payments innovation across subscription and bill payments, ecommerce and in app transactions, embedded finance and account funding, and the bulk disbursement of funds.

Cuscal has also partnered with software providers to ensure that Cuscal’s NPP Payments and PayTo services are integrated seamlessly into all clients’ digital channels to deliver an optimum customer experience.

Cuscal’s expertise and scale has also attracted clients who are nimble, innovative and focused to take advantage of one seamless onboarding to enable them to be first to market with Cuscal’s NPP Payments and PayTo services.

James Foster, Chief Executive Officer, Ezypay, commented:

We chose to partner with Cuscal as we knew they could deliver on our requirements to be live with PayTo on Day 1. We are a leading subscription payments fintech and it’s comforting to know that Cuscal’s vision for the future of payments in Australia is strongly aligned with ours.

For more information about Cuscal’s PayTo initiation services, click here.

Payment Services Providers – initiating PayTo payments for businesses

Azupay
Ezypay
Global Payments (Eway, Ezidebit)
GoCardless
Hay Limited
Merchant Warrior
Monoova
Paypa Plane
Zai (formerly Assembly Payments)

Payer Financial Institutions – making PayTo payments for customers

Australian Mutual Bank
Australian Unity Bank
Bank Australia
Bank of Queensland (BOQ and Virgin Money)
Bank WAW
bcu
Bendigo Bank
Beyond Bank
Central Murray Credit Union
Community First Credit Union
Credit Union SA
Defence Bank
First Option Bank
Geelong Bank
Goulburn Murray Credit Union
Hay Limited
Horizon Bank
Illawarra Credit Union
Laboratories Credit Union
Great Southern Bank
MyState Bank
Northern Inland Credit Union
Orange Credit Union
P&N Bank
People’s Choice
Police Credit Union
Queensland Country Bank
RACQ Bank
Regional Australia Bank
South West Slopes Credit Union
Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (Teachers Mutual Bank, Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank, Hiver and UniBank)
The Broken Hill Community Credit Union
The Mac
ubank (formerly 86400)
Unity Bank Limited (Unity Bank and Reliance Bank)
Warwick Credit Union

Media contact

Simone Perryman, SShields@cuscal.com.au

NPP and PayTo SAM Network webinar

Posted on December 13, 2021October 26, 2023 by Marketing Team

NPP’s PayTo will be a new, digital way for merchants and businesses to initiate real-time payments from their customers’ bank accounts while allowing customers to see and control all recurring payments through their account. With the introduction of PayTo from mid-2022 all financial institutions that offer customer-initiated real-time payments will need to make significant changes to their back-office processes and technology in order to support receiving and actioning PayTo messages and payment initiation requests.

Ben Vivoda, Head of Client Services and Nathan Churchward, Head of Product Emerging Services, from Cuscal met virtually with members of the SAM Network to discuss this next phase of the NPP and the opportunities that PayTo will create.

Webinar: ‘SAM Network webinar: The NPP and PayTo’

Partnership in action. Monoova and the NPP

Posted on December 3, 2021February 1, 2024 by Marketing Team

When the New Payments Platform (NPP) rolled out on Tuesday, 13 February 2018 uptake was gradual as financial institutions rolled out NPP payment functionality to different customer segments and channels. However, as real-time payments have become more ubiquitous and innovative payment service providers have been enabled on the NPP, the growth trajectory of the platform has gone from strength-to-strength.

As one of a very small group of payment service providers to be enabled on the NPP, payment automation specialist Monoova recognised the potential of the platform early, partnering with Cuscal to access the platform and automate many of the manual processes that occur ‘before’, ‘after’ or ‘around’ payments which can be an obstacle to growth for scaling businesses.

From mid-2022 the next phase of growth for the platform commences with the launch of PayTo, enabling a broad range of use-cases which will provide a springboard for future payments innovation. Once again Monoova will be at the forefront of NPP-enabled innovation, with Monoova’s clients to be amongst the first in Australia to be able to initiate payments from a funding account with the payer customer’s authorisation.

This case study looks at how Monoova has innovated on top of Cuscal’s NPP and PayTo solutions to bring to life truly unique propositions that make managing business payments easy, providing clients with access to a true end-to-end payment automation solution that leverages all the capabilities of the NPP as well as Cuscal’s scale, expertise and trusted industry position to initiate, process and receive real-time payments.

Beyond real-time: the value of pre-authorised payments from bank accounts

Posted on October 17, 2021October 29, 2023 by Marketing Team

The face of payments in Australia has changed dramatically over the last twenty to thirty years, with the pace of change set to accelerate as technological advancements revolutionise the way we make, receive and request payments.

As the most frequently requested capability for the New Payments Platform (NPP), enabling the capabilities required to support third-party payment initiation from bank accounts has been a key priority for the payments and banking industry. Known as PayTo, this service will leverage the infrastructure of the NPP to drive the next phase of growth for the Platform.

PayTo will lead the use of embedded, pre-authorised payments from bank accounts in Australia, supporting a diverse range of payment use cases. It will provide consumers and businesses greater confidence, certainty and control over account-to-account payments as they are moved seamlessly into the background.

While PayTo will be available from mid-2022, when shifts in payment technology occur you want to be at the front of the queue to gain a first mover advantage over competitors. To help payment service providers and enterprises plan for the introduction of PayTo this white paper looks at:

The origins of real-time payments in Australia and the future directions for the NPP;
The rapid uptake of payment initiation in the UK under Open Banking;
The value PayTo will deliver to consumers and businesses and what the user journey looks like from the end-user perspective;
The role different participants play in the PayTo ecosystem; and
What Cuscal is doing to enable the PayTo services that are required by payer banks and payment initiators.

Format: White paper
Audience: Payment service providers and enterprises that process a large volume of payments
Estimated reading time: 20 minutes

Unlocking opportunities in the era of open data and payments

Posted on June 25, 2021October 27, 2023 by Marketing Team

Under the government’s Digital Economy Strategy Australia is set to become “a leading digital economy and society by 2030”, with the Consumer Data Right (CDR) one of several initiatives designed to establish the right foundations to grow the digital economy.

Integrated data and technologies will make life easier for consumers and businesses, but enterprises face the challenges integrating legacy systems and infrastructure with real-time digital ecosystems. Cuscal can help enterprises bridge this gap, deploying new capabilities that support the collection, sharing, management and storage of consumer consent and CDR data. While our position at the centre of payments – as the leading provider of New Payment Platform (NPP) payment services to banks and payment service providers – means we are ideally positioned to help enterprises unlock new growth opportunities from the convergence of data and payment initiation services.

This white paper provides senior leaders and product owners with insights into some of the regulatory, technology, security and capabilities required to comply with the CDR today and how to unlock opportunities from the convergence of data and payments.

In this white paper you’ll learn more about:

What the CDR is, how it has evolved and what future legislative change may mean for Data Holders in designated industries, as well as for accredited Data Recipients;
How NPP capabilities are being enhanced and extended through the development of the PayTo service, supporting ‘write’ access for third party payment initiation from bank accounts in real-time, as envisaged under CDR;
What enterprises should consider to enable data-centric strategies that integrate with the CDR and real-time payments, and how Cuscal capabilities and payment expertise can facilitate participation across ecosystems;
Use cases demonstrating some of the ways in which the CDR and payment initiation can be applied to make life easier for consumers and businesses;
How Cuscal is assisting clients participate in the CDR with access to a suite of secure and robust capabilities for the collection, sharing, management and storage of data subject to CDR legislation; and
How Cuscal is enabling payment initiation services that are align with CDR and NPP PayTo frameworks for banks, payment service providers, fintechs and enterprises.

If you’d like to know more about how Cuscal can support your business participate in the CDR ecosystem and with real-time PayTo payment initiation, call 1300 650 501 or submit an enquiry.

Download the White Paper [PDF, 10 MB]