Lynn Kraus - CEO of Australian Payments Plus

Who we are

Good afternoon, Chair and members of the Committee.

Australian Payments Plus, or AP+, is a member-owned organisation that operates in the public interest. 

AP+ was formed^[1] by the merger of Australia’s domestic payment schemes - BPAY, eftpos, and the New Payments Platform, also known as the NPP. The merger^[2] was authorised by the ACCC in late 2021 and completed in early 2022.

In essence, the merger was about creating a unified Australian entity, that would allow the country to compete more effectively in digital payments and also drive future payment innovation.

By creating AP+, this has put Australia in a better position to efficiently deliver world-class modern critical payments infrastructure, that enables money to move safely, efficiently and at scale – benefiting the whole economy.

Since 2022, AP+ has delivered for the Australian economy in a number of ways, and there are fourparticular achievements that I would like to highlight.

eftpos

First, on eftpos. eftpos is Australia’s domestic debit network, and it plays a critical role in keeping card payments affordable, competitive and resilient for the Australian economy.

Debit cards now account for over 75%^[3] of all card payments in Australia. By providing a comparable and cost-effective alternative to the international debit card schemes, eftpos puts downward pressure on costs for merchants, through least-cost routing. In fact, RBA data shows that merchants who enable least-cost routing are able to achieve a 20 per cent saving on debit card transactions.

Just as importantly, eftpos strengthens Australia’s payments sovereignty. It ensures we are not reliant solely on international card schemes. By maintaining a domestic debit network alongside international schemes, eftpos helps ensure Australia retains control, choice and resilience in the processing of everyday transactions – from groceries to fuel to essential services.

The NPP

The second thing to highlight is the role of the New Payments Platform – or the NPP. Most Australians know the NPP through services like Osko and PayID.

The NPP is national payments infrastructure that now processes around 1.5 billion^[4] payments a year, with most transactions completed in under three seconds. Today, nearly one in three account-to-account payments in Australia are made via the NPP.    

For businesses and government, the NPP is more than speed – it is data-rich, real-time payments that improve cash flow, reconciliation and fraud controls. That is why nearly a third of large Australian corporates already have plans underway to migrate to the NPP. ^[5]

That real-time, data-rich capability is increasingly important also for major reforms such as payday super, where timely, traceable payments will support the delivery of policy outcomes.

AP+ continues to invest in the NPP to ensure it can support Australia’s growing economy.

The future of money

The third area to highlight relates to our role in the future of money. As payments become faster and more digital, the way money and assets are settled is also evolving. The key question for Australia is not whether this change will happen, but whether it is built on trusted, regulated infrastructure.

That is why AP+ is participating in the RBA’s Project Acacia, which is exploring how digital money and tokenised assets could operate using existing payments and settlement systems – including the NPP – rather than creating parallel or unregulated rails.

ConnectID

And the final area where AP+ is making a difference is in relation to digital identity. In 2023, we launched ConnectID, Australia’s first accredited digital identity exchange, enabling people to verify their identity using organisations they already trust.

Australians need safer ways to prove who they are, without repeatedly over-sharing sensitive personal information. ConnectID securely supports a wide range of these real-world activities.

Just like eftpos and the NPP, AP+’s role is to offer ConnectID as national infrastructure and allow Australians the choice to enhance the privacy and the security of their personal information.

Our purpose

To close, AP+ is having a positive competitive impact; we know that strong domestic payment schemes drive good outcomes for Australia.

Despite our size, AP+ is here to compete head-on and transform payments in Australia. We provide cost-effective and competitive payment services that are modern, resilient and safe.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear here today, we look forward to answering your questions.

---

[1] https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/mergers-and-acquisitions-registers/merger-authorisations-register-2017-25/proposed-amalgamation-of-bpay-eftpos-and-nppa

[2] https://www.auspayplus.com.au/accc-authorises-amalgamation-of-bpay-group-eftpos-and-npp-australia-to-form-australian-payments-plus#:~:text=The%20Determination%20also%20states%20that,Determination%20can%20be%20read%20here.

[3] Retail Payments December 2025 | RBA – Number of Retail Payments.

[4] https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/xls/c06hist.xlsx

[5] Coalition Greenwich Voice of Client 2025 Australia Large Corporate Transactional Banking Study. Includes businesses with over $500mn annual turnover in the Australian market. 

---