Strong growth in instant payments - NPP

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.