PayTo Set to Spur Rapid Business Payments Transformation – Westpac
(9 September 2023 – Australia) PayTo could be the answer for business banking customers frustrated by losing track of regular payments and subscriptions, Westpac reports.
While adoption of the payments feature has been subdued because the function is not widely available to businesses, that’s about to change…Westpac is planning to extend the service to its business customers in Q1 2024. PayTo was released by the banking industry in Q1 2023 offering a smarter, more secure alternative to Direct Debit by allowing customers to set up digital payment agreements with service providers which they can then view and manage on their phone or laptop.
PayTo is more secure than Direct Debit because it doesn’t require the customer to share all their bank details with the counterparty – a key drawback associated with the recently discontinued “POLI” payments offering. If customers prefer not to hand over their BSB and Account Number they can supply their PayID, which they can also set up through the Westpac App. This is a safer way of providing bank details without identifying them.
“It’s about empowerment of the consumer. You'll be able to go into your Westpac app and see every recurring payment you've got there, and if you can no longer afford it or you're no longer using any of those services, you can just go in and shut them down in real time” stated Westpac Managing Director, Global Transaction Services, Jeff Byrne.
“Once we go live with this for our major clients including energy companies, health insurance companies, some big state governments and they're ready to start establishing PayTo mandates in the market, we think it's really going to take off” Byrne added.
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