Australia’s banking sector is rapidly intensifying its push into real-time account-to-account payments as financial institutions look to reduce dependence on traditional card networks and modernise merchant payment infrastructure. National Australia Bank (NAB) has now strengthened that strategy through the acquisition of Banked, a fintech platform specialising in instant account-to-account payment technology and digital checkout experiences.
The acquisition expands NAB’s payments capabilities as demand grows for faster, lower-cost payment alternatives that allow businesses to receive funds directly from customer bank accounts without relying on credit or debit card rails.
Banked’s platform enables merchants and consumers to complete instant payments through a “Pay by Bank” model, supporting real-time settlement, simplified reconciliation, and integrated checkout experiences. NAB stated that the acquisition aligns with its broader strategy to accelerate account-to-account and real-time payment capabilities for business customers across Australia.
NAB has been both an investor and strategic partner of Banked through NAB Ventures and has utilised the company’s technology since 2024 to support merchant payment services.
Shane Conway, NAB Group Executive for Transformation, said integrating Banked’s product and engineering capabilities with NAB’s scale and payments infrastructure would help create a more seamless digital payments experience from checkout through to settlement.
“Pay by Bank is part of a broader shift in Australia’s payments landscape toward real-time, account-to-account options that sit alongside cards and digital wallets,” Conway said.
“Customers expect making payments to be fast, easy and reliable, and Banked helps us deliver that.”
He added that the acquisition would allow businesses to manage payments, reconciliation, and settlement more efficiently within a single ecosystem while also lowering transaction costs for merchants.
Banked CEO and co-founder Brad Goodall said the deal would help the platform scale further by leveraging NAB’s distribution reach and infrastructure capabilities.
“The Banked team have worked hard to build a globally proven payments platform focused on the modern demands of developers and merchants of all sizes and scale,” Goodall said.
“Having the backing of NAB will allow the platform to reach more customers.”
The acquisition reflects broader momentum across the payments industry, where banks and fintechs are increasingly competing to control the next generation of real-time payment infrastructure as digital commerce evolves beyond traditional card-based models.
What this means for the industry
- Banks are accelerating investment into account-to-account payment infrastructure as real-time payments become a strategic alternative to card networks.
- “Pay by Bank” models are gaining momentum globally as merchants seek lower transaction costs and faster settlement capabilities.
- Traditional banks are increasingly acquiring fintech capabilities instead of building all payment innovation internally.
- Real-time payments are evolving from a back-end infrastructure upgrade into a competitive customer experience layer.
- Merchant demand for integrated checkout, reconciliation, and settlement tools is driving convergence between banking infrastructure and fintech platforms.
- Account-to-account payment systems could gradually reduce reliance on card schemes for certain types of digital commerce transactions.
- The acquisition highlights how open banking, instant payments, and embedded finance are beginning to reshape merchant payment ecosystems in Australia and globally.
- Developer-friendly APIs and modern payment orchestration platforms are becoming critical differentiators in the race to modernise business payments infrastructure.
