BPAY

Businesses or other organisations in Australia which choose to participate in the BPAY system would register as billers with the BPAY operating company through its bank. A biller must have an ACN or ABN and a banking relationship with an Australian financial institution. They will also need to designate the bank account to which amounts received are to be deposited, as well as the account to which fees are to be charged. The BPAY operating company would allocate a biller number to the business, which would be printed with the BPAY logo on their bills, as well as an indication of what reference number a customer should use when making a payment.

To make a payment, a customer would visit his or her Australian financial institution's online, mobile or telephone banking facility, where he or she would enter the biller code, reference number and payment amount as well as an indication of the account to be debited, which may also be a credit card. Some billers do not accept credit cards (or accept payment from a limited list of credit cards) in payment through BPAY. The financial institution may limit the accounts which may be used for BPAY payments, and save the biller references information for use by the customer for future payments.

As a security measure, when making a BPAY payment to a new biller, the financial institution will typically send a SMS message with a validation code to the customer’s mobile phone. The customer would need to enter the validation code before the transaction is processed. This may create difficulties if the customer is making the payment while abroad.

The customer does not need to register for the service. The customer would usually not be required to pay a fee for the service, but the biller would usually pay a fee to its bank, and the credit card company if a card was used in payment.

After a customer has made a payment using BPAY, the financial institution where the payment was made would send by electronic funds transfer the payment details to the biller's bank (if different) and the biller's bank would credit the biller's designated bank account with the payment amount, and the biller will be advised of the customer reference number and payment amount, for automatic or manual entry into its accounting system. Transactions completed before a cut-off time set by the financial institution will normally be processed and paid on the same day, otherwise it will be processed on the next business day. The remitting (customer’s) bank may charge the biller's bank an interchange fee and the biller’s bank will charge the biller its fee, usually on a monthly basis.

BPAY View was introduced in 2002. To be part of the system, a BPAY biller would also need to register for the BPAY View service. The biller would then include the BPAY View logo on its bills. The customer, on receiving the bill, may then go onto their financial institution’s internet banking site or app to register the bill. Once registered, the bills are delivered electronically by the biller to participating Australian financial institution, which then sends an SMS or email to the customer, who would go onto the financial institution’s internet banking site to view the bill and authorise payment.[1]

Many billers opt for its customers to arrange direct debits of the bill instead of setting up BPAY View. This enables payments being made on the due date without the need for a customer to do anything else, other than to ensure that there are or will be sufficient funds on the due date in the account to be debited. The biller would typically send the customer a SMS or email advising that a debit will be made on a particular date and the amount, with either the bill being attached or with a link to the bill being provided.

Osko by BPAY, under the New Payments Platform, allows payments to be sent and received between participating financial institutions in less than a minute every day, throughout the day. In addition to use of the traditional BSB and account number, payments can also be made using another person’s PayID, which can be a registered mobile number, email address or ABN, that is linked to the recipient’s bank account. To transfer funds to the account the transferor can use the PayID instead of the BSB and account number.[2]

The BPAY system was launched on 18 November 1997 as an electronic bill payment system for bill payments by phone. It was the world's first single bill payment service adopted across the banking sector.[1] It soon offered bill payments over the Internet through financial institutions' online banking sites.

In 2002, BPAY View was introduced, which delivers bills and statements electronically to participating Australian financial institutions, which then send an SMS or email to the customer who would go onto the internet banking site to authorise payment.[1]

As of January 2015, BPAY payments can be made through more than 156 participating Australian banks, credit unions and financial institutions.[1] More than 45,000 businesses accept payments using BPAY[1] and each month approximately 30 million bills to the value of $24 billion are paid using BPAY.[1]

• New Payments Platform

• BPAY website