Australia’s real-time payment landscape rests on three connected pieces: the New Payments Platform (NPP), PayID, and PayTo. The NPP is the infrastructure; PayID and PayTo are services built on top of it for different jobs. This page explains what each one does, how they fit together, and why they matter for businesses and customers in Australia.
The New Payments Platform (NPP) is the foundation of Australia’s real-time payment system. It enables instant, round-the-clock bank-to-bank payments across participating institutions. When a payment runs over the NPP, the money is processed in seconds and is available in the recipient’s account straight away, with no batch windows and no overnight wait.The NPP provides the rails that both PayID and PayTo run on. Without it, neither service would exist.What it offers:
  • Real-time processing: each payment settles on its own, not in a batch
  • All-day availability: payments work on weekends and public holidays
  • A rich data standard (ISO 20022): carries detailed information for easy matching
  • Central clearing: the NPP coordinates settlement between banks, backed by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Fast Settlement Service
PayID lets a customer send money to a simple identifier (a mobile number, an email address, or a business domain such as pay@yourbusiness.com.au) instead of a BSB and account number. The customer enters the PayID, the NPP looks up the linked account, and the money arrives in real time.PayID works for payments between individuals and, importantly for businesses, for customer-to-business (C2B) payments. A branded domain PayID helps customers recognise and trust your business.
A custom domain PayID (for example, pay@yourbusiness.com.au) signals a verified business identity, which reduces the risk of payments going to the wrong place.
PayTo is a modern replacement for direct debit, also built on the NPP. It lets a business collect recurring or scheduled payments from a customer’s account, but only after the customer approves a digital agreement (a mandate) in their banking app.The key difference from old direct debit is that the agreement is held by the customer’s bank, not the business. Customers can view, pause, change, or cancel it themselves at any time.
Hello Clever facilitated Australia’s first-ever PayTo transaction, in partnership with Commonwealth Bank.

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How the three fit together

The NPP is the infrastructure. PayID and PayTo are services that use it for different payment patterns: PayID for one-off payments a customer sends, PayTo for recurring payments a business collects.

NPP

The real-time clearing and settlement infrastructure. Every PayID and PayTo payment runs over it.

PayID

An addressing service for one-off, customer-sent (push) payments to a simple identifier.

PayTo

A service for recurring, business-collected (pull) payments against an agreement the customer approves.
Need a customer to pay once, quickly? Use PayID. Need to collect on a schedule? Use PayTo.

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Go deeper

PayID for C2B payments

How businesses receive PayID payments and match them to orders.

PayTo for recurring payments

How to collect subscriptions and scheduled payments with PayTo.