In 2025, the NPP processed nearly 2 billion real-time payments and momentum is continuing to build. Research from Coalition Greenwich indicates that nearly one-third of large Australian corporates already have plans underway to move to modern payments systems, such as the NPP.*
While the full transformation to modern payments at scale will take time, the shift is well underway. Businesses and government agencies across Australia are increasingly adopting real-time, data-rich digital payments to boost productivity, improve cash flow and strengthen protections against financial crime.
In this update, we share the latest on payday super, key focus areas, industry progress towards the modernisation of A2A payments and the proposed bulk solution.
Payday super is coming
The move to faster, more efficient superannuation payments is underway, with payday super legislation taking effect in July 2026.
Real-time super payments via the NPP will play a central role in facilitating fast, secure, data-rich payments that will improve transparency and efficiency for employers, super funds and employees.
Industry progress is already well underway. Several PSPs, super funds and clearing houses are already offering real-time super payment solutions, with many more well progressed in their implementation plans. AP+ is working closely with the ATO, NPP participating organisations and industry enablers to support the implementation of NPP payments processing and data standards to support payday super.
We’ve developed new resources to support education on real-time super payments:
Ongoing priorities on the move to NPP
AP+ has an extensive program of work underway to ensure the NPP has the capability, capacity, reach and resilience to easily handle the expected uplift in transaction volumes as more payments move to the NPP.
Some of the key areas of focus include:
- Capacity uplifts: implementing a regular cadence of capacity uplifts to prepare for increasing transaction volumes, with the most recent uplift delivered at the end of 2025 and the next uplift expected in 2027.
- Capability enhancements: enhancements are underway to support future functionality, including an upgrade of the ISO 20022 message version that the NPP operates on and data uplifts to the NPP payment message, both scheduled for delivery by the end of 2026.
- Contingency planning: as volumes increase, a key area of focus is the review of contingency arrangements for NPP payments. In consultation with industry, AP+ is working on a contingency strategy that will consider a range of contingency scenarios and explore different contingency options for those scenarios.
- Expanding reach: today, 128 million accounts can make and receive payments on the NPP, an increase of 12% from the previous year. AP+ continues to work with NPP participating organisations to close any remaining account reach gaps.
Industry progress towards the modernisation of A2A payments
Earlier this month, the RBA published its annual update on the 2025 Risk Assessment into the Decommissioning of BECS, which notes the progress made on the initial set of recommendations and underscores the importance of maintaining industry momentum as Australia modernises its account-to-account (A2A) payments system.
The 2025 Risk Assessment brought clarity to the path ahead and helped align the industry around the key areas of focus required to ensure a smooth transition.
Over the past 12 months, substantial progress has been made in developing a shared vision for A2A payments (one of the foundational recommendations from the 2025 Risk Assessment), in consultation with a diverse range of stakeholders. A draft vision will be published for feedback in April 2026, followed by a final report and industry roadmap for delivering the vision later this year.
Read our full post here.
Proposed bulk solution
As the move to NPP gathers momentum, there’s growing interest in adopting real-time, data-rich payments for high-volume ‘bulk’ payments.
Over the past two years, AP+ has engaged extensively with financial institutions, industry bodies and end users to understand how bulk payments could be supported to ensure a smooth, orderly shift of bulk payments to the NPP. Through this work, we have developed a proposed set of enhancements to NPP payments to support bulk payment use-cases and we’re considering the participation model that would enable these features.
We’re currently seeking feedback on the proposed solution. If you’re a stakeholder, we welcome your input to help ensure the bulk solution is practical, inclusive and aligned to real-world needs as we modernise Australia’s payments infrastructure.
The bulk solution paper for public feedback and more information can be found on our website. Feedback should be submitted to [email protected] by 5pm on Wednesday 8 April 2026.
Supporting the PayID and PayTo customer experience
As the adoption of PayID and PayTo grows across industries and different use cases, consistent implementation is key to delivering predictable and recognisable customer experiences, and ultimately brand trust.
To help achieve this, updated PayID and PayTo messaging toolkits are now available. These resources are designed to support end users and providers (including businesses, merchants, banks payment service providers, government agencies and digital service providers) as they implement these services.
For any questions, please reach out to [email protected]
Looking ahead
The NPP is well positioned to support Australia’s drive towards digital transformation, as well as government reforms such as tax 3.0 and payday super. Always-on availability, instant payment processing and certainty of outcomes, real-time movement of funds, richer payments data and payee validation are critical capabilities for a digital economy.
As the move to NPP progresses, we’ll continue to work closely with industry, our members and end users and provide updates on key milestones and developments as we advance towards Australia’s payments future.
1Coalition Greenwich Voice of Client 2025 Australia Large Corporate Transactional Banking Study. Includes businesses with over $500mn annual turnover in the Australian market.
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