CBA and BNY deliver near real-time cross-border payments

Through a new cross-border payments collaboration between Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), Australian businesses and individuals who receive international payments from BNY’s customers may now be paid in as little as 60 seconds¹ regardless of who they bank with.

Through the new arrangement, BNY commercial payments from overseas to businesses and individuals with Australian bank accounts will now be available to the final beneficiary in under a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The collaboration harnesses Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP²) International Payments Service (IPS), enabling the last mile of BNY’s cross-border payments to Australia to be processed by CBA via the NPP, offering cost transparency, robust security and faster settlement.

Making and receiving cross-border payments can be challenging for customers due to the cost and processing times. Inefficient payment processes also have the potential to hinder economic growth by impeding the flow of capital across borders.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with BNY and leverage the IPS initiative to enhance the speed of cross-border payments into Australia. This initiative demonstrates our commitment to supporting our banking partners to meet customer demand for instant and frictionless cross-border payments,” said Ethan Teas, Executive General Manager Payments at CBA.

”This represents a significant leap forward in the evolution of speed in global payments, allowing CBA to empower our overseas banking partners to deliver great outcomes for their customers in supporting faster settlement of payments bound for accounts in Australia. Combined with CBA’s market-leading 24/7 AUD clearing, we are proud to offer the strongest end-to-end proposition for our overseas partners.

“Adoption of similar services like the IPS in Australia is expected to continue globally as demand for an instant cross-border experiences rises. Collaborating with CBA allows BNY to enable yet another market in our ambition to facilitate instant, frictionless payments from account-to-account anywhere in the world,” said Carl Slabicki, Executive Platform Owner, Treasury Services at BNY.

The NPP was launched in Australia in 2018 to enable real-time payments 24/7 between participating financial institutions. The platform not only enhances the speed and efficiency of domestic transactions but also recently introduced instant interoperability via the IPS. This service enables the Australian dollar leg of inbound cross-border payments to be processed by the NPP and in doing so aligns with the Financial Stability Board's vision for a more interconnected global financial system.

CBA’s enablement of IPS will also accommodate flexibility in settling transactions up to mutually agreed payment value thresholds³ to support a safe, sound and secure transition to near real-time settlement while managing risk and liquidity.

“Demand for seamless and instantaneous cross-border payments continues to grow and we’re focused on taking advantage of advancements in payment infrastructure, particularly the development of faster payment rails, to help our customers benefit from fast, safe and frictionless payments experiences,” said Mr Teas.

¹ Subject to compliance cleared, straight through processed and IPS payments eligibility criteria.

² ©2023 Australian Payments Plus. ABN: 19 649 744 203  All rights reserved.

³ Payment value thresholds are mutually determined between CBA and the sending bank and may differ.

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