White Papers
March 2024
Backlash to Surcharging on Card Payments
A tipping point appears to have been reached among Australian consumers, with a widespread backlash now occurring to what many see as the endemic surcharging of card payments by retail merchants. As more and more consumers have moved from paying with cash at physical point of sale to paying with cards (debit and credit, both physical or in a mobile device), what was once an occasional “hit” with a card surcharge has become for some “a constant one to one & a half percent being added to my bill”.
December 2023
The transition from BECS to realtime on the NPP - it ain’t broke, but…
Having facilitated direct entry (debit and credit) transactions for consumers and business for more than 25 years, BECS has built a level of trust that can only be earned over the long term. Across the payments eco-system systems, integrations and processes have been optimised to ensure that BECS’ capabilities are used to the greatest advantage.
July 2023
A large and growing problem, and it’s not just about the $$$
Scammers are well resourced, have access to AI, and likely business plans, budgets and stretch targets!
Assisted by technology, they are becoming far more sophisticated. Gone are the days of emails from Nigeria with poor grammar and spelling. Today it can be very hard to tell if an email or SMS is not from the real organisation of which you are a customer. Mobile phone numbers are hijacked, legitimate invoices are intercepted, and payment details changed, even bogus parking tickets (armed with seamless ways to pay your fine) are appearing on windscreens.
And this is before “deep fakes” are considered – it can take as little as 3 to 5 seconds of you talking in order to take a voice print and synthesise your voice to conduct a scam over the phone.
October 2022
Unlocking the opportunities of PayTo and the Consumer Data Right
Developed by NPP Australia in collaboration with the industry and to be offered by banks, financial institutions and payment service providers in Australia, PayTo provides a simple, safe and convenient way for consumers and businesses to authorise and control frequent and ad-hoc payments from bank accounts. Whilst “unlocking opportunities” appears a simple discussion prompt, with many moving parts and associated agendas for PayTo and the CDR, it is easy to make things rather complex, so we’ll take a moment to revisit what each of them actually are.
April 2022
The future of merchant acquiring - it’s more that just card payments
Historically merchant acquiring has focussed on cards, and for good reason as they have been the dominant form of electronic payment at the checkout.
However, we’re now in an era in Australia where physical cards are under threat and other payment rails can be activated within the virtual payments world. Whilst Apple Pay and Google Pay wallets are provisioned using cards, it’s old news that mobile wallets such as Paypal and those prevalent in China have offered direct provisioning from bank accounts.
June 2021
Similar to cash more broadly, plastic is the lowest common denominator for enabling a card payment. For example, whilst the ability to use Apple or Google Pay is relatively ubiquitous in Australia, it is not in other countries, not the least being in the USA. Just as the trend to cashless is better described as a trend to less cash (as cash is unlikely to disappear any time soon), it is a similar story for plastic - which is unlikely to disappear (at least for some decades on a global basis). However, undoubtedly the need for physical plastic within Australia is already being challenged by the move to digital card (and other) payments.
October 2020
Scams are now bigger business than Payments Fraud
Historically much focus has been on the identification and prevention of Payments Fraud (where an unauthorised payment is made on an account by a third party) however Payments Scams (an authorised payment made by the account holder) are becoming an increasingly significant burden on customers as well as financial institutions.
March 2020
2020 Pandemic - How it might change the ways we pay?
The 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on how we live and work. We are planning for the worst and hoping for something better. No matter how long it takes for the crisis to pass, 2020 will be a year that is not forgotten quickly.
It will undoubtedly be a period of change, some of which will alter the way we do things forever.
Perspectives on Payments Regulation – It depends which way you look at it…
Whether or not regulation is good or bad often depends which side of the fence you sit. Sometimes society demands it to solve a problem. Sometimes legislators impose it to solve a problem that is over the horizon or we don’t yet know we have. But with regulation, there are almost always unintended consequences, winners and losers, storm clouds and silver linings.
December 2019
Account to Account Payments For Consumers
Account to Account payments are already here but traditionally have been slow. However with the emergence of new Real-Time Payment system around the world, account to account payments are set to take off.
October 2019
Buy Now, Pay Later – New? Old? Better?
It is inevitable that this whitepaper will be out of date as soon as it is published, as the speed of change in this sector (in new entrants, new products, competitive positioning, usage numbers, regulation, etc) is faster than most. However, at the time of publishing, we hope that we have captured the current state of play.
September 2019
The Changing Face of Consumer Payments in Australia
The ways in which consumer payments are made is often likened to a train system comprised of the “rails” that carry the carriages (the payment systems), and the “carriages” that carry the passengers (the individual payments).
The media will have us believe that the payments landscape is constantly and rapidly changing. To an extent this is correct – but this is all about new “carriages” rather than “rails”.
August 2019
Open Banking - A Story of Data
This is a story about data. Every day, each individual generates an incredible amount of electronic information. Every time they engage with a retailer, telco, bank or another institution, they leave behind data about their person, their behaviour and their transactions. Organisations hold significant amounts of information on the who, what, when and why of their customers, and accumulate more as their services are used. Traditionally, the value of customer data has been a poorly understood and utilised concept; however, both organisations and individuals are becoming smarter in utilising and exploiting this value. Understanding this, then the question of who holds, owns and uses the data that we generate becomes of ever increasing importance.
July 2019
In-app payments are one of the highest growth sectors of the payments market. The ability to browse and purchase products or services without having to go through a check out or Point of Sale (POS) system is appealing both from a customer and merchant perspective. Customers experience a seamless transaction process and merchants can achieve a greater insight into customer analytics. If payments are easier to make, it is more likely that consumers will make them.
June 2019
Card acceptance payment terminals – the case for integration
A merchant can choose to have a standalone payment card acceptance terminal, completely separate to the point of sale (POS) system (historically a “cash register”); such that after the sale has been rung up on the POS, the total amount then needs to be manually entered into the card acceptance terminal, prior to the payment card being presented by the customer. The terminal then needs to print out a receipt.
In many cases an itemised register receipt will also be printed out by the POS.
Alternatively, a merchant can choose to have an integrated card acceptance terminal, where the total $ amount is automatically communicated by the POS to the terminal. And, when the card acceptance terminal is integrated, only one itemized payment receipt is printed by the POS, which includes the card payment details.
February 2015
PIN@POS Case Study - the removal of signature from card payments
On 1 August 2014, Australian cardholders stopped signing to authorise card transactions and had to use a PIN to pay. The introduction of PIN@POS almost immediately addressed the losses caused by fraudulent transactions at physical point of sale, which continue to remain at a very low level to this day.
The so-called “Australian Industry Security Program” ran for 3 years from early 2012, and involved 4 card schemes, the 4 major Australian banks and 6 other financial institutions. This whitepaper is the “case study” that was written at the request of the Steering Committee Members.