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# Strong growth in instant payments - NPP
- URL: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/australia-payments-shift-july-2026/
- Published: 2026-09-07T01:44:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T01:44:02.000Z
- Description: Australia’s payments transformation continues, with rapid growth in real-time NPP transfers, rising card spending, fewer ATM withdrawals and another sharp fall in cheque use.
- Author: Nick Hossack
- Tags: #payments

Australia’s payments system continues to move rapidly towards cards and real-time account-to-account payments, while older payment methods steadily retreat.

The standout in the RBA’s July data is the **New Payments Platform (NPP)**. Australians made 176.2 million NPP transactions during the month, worth $260.6 billion. Transaction values were **20.1% higher than a year earlier**, while the number of transactions increased 12.2%.

Cards remain the everyday workhorse. Australians made **1.42 billion card purchases worth $100.1 billion** in July. Card spending increased 6.6% over the year, compared with a 4.0% increase in transaction numbers — suggesting the average amount spent per transaction is also rising.

Debit cards dominate by volume, accounting for more than three-quarters of card purchases. But credit and charge card spending grew faster in value, rising 8.1% over the year compared with 5.7% for debit.

Cash is declining more gradually. The **number of ATM withdrawals fell 2.1%**, but their value actually increased 1.8%, suggesting Australians are making fewer but larger withdrawals.

Cheques continue their structural collapse. Just 0.6 million cheque payments were made in July, down **27.1% over the year**.

The direction is increasingly clear: Australian payments are becoming faster, more digital and more concentrated around cards and real-time transfers.

*Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, Retail Payments, July 2026.*

How Australians are paying — July 2026 

| Payment method            | July value | Value growth | Number growth |
| ------------------------- | ---------- | ------------ | ------------- |
| **New Payments Platform** | $260.6bn   | **+20.1%**   | +12.2%        |
| **Card purchases**        | $100.1bn   | +6.6%        | +4.0%         |
| **ATM withdrawals**       | $9.3bn     | +1.8%        | −2.1%         |
| **Cheques**               | $11.0bn    | −14.0%       | **−27.1%**    |

Year-ended growth. Seasonally adjusted. Source: Reserve Bank of Australia.