PayID

PayID is a service available in Australia that allows a bank account to be identified and paid using a simple, memorable identifier, such as a mobile phone number, email address or Australian Business Number, instead of requiring the sender to know the recipient's full BSB and account number. It is built on top of the New Payments Platform, Australia's real-time payments infrastructure.

A customer registers a PayID with their bank, linking the chosen identifier to their specific bank account. Anyone wanting to pay that person can then simply enter the identifier, such as a phone number, into their own banking app, which looks up and confirms the recipient's name before the payment is sent, reducing the risk of a payment being sent to the wrong account due to a mistyped account number.

PayID replaces the need to carefully copy out a long account number and routing code with something far more familiar, like a phone number already saved in a contacts list. It works a little like how many messaging apps let people be found by a phone number rather than a technical username, except here the thing being "found" is a bank account rather than a chat profile.

The added step of showing the recipient's registered name before a payment is confirmed also acts as a built-in safety check: if the name that appears does not match who the sender intended to pay, they can cancel before any money moves.

• A customer registers an identifier, such as a phone number or email address, with their bank and links it to a specific account.
• A payer enters that identifier in their own banking app instead of a BSB and account number.
• The system confirms the registered name attached to the PayID before the payment is sent, letting the payer verify they have the right recipient.

PayID is operated as part of the New Payments Platform, which is owned by a consortium of Australian financial institutions with oversight from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Because PayID makes sending money quick and simple, Australian regulators and banks have also had to address how the same convenience can be exploited by scammers, who sometimes impersonate legitimate businesses or individuals to trick victims into sending funds to a fraudulent PayID. Banks generally advise customers to independently verify a PayID recipient's identity, particularly for large or unfamiliar payments, rather than relying solely on the name displayed during the payment confirmation step.

Despite this risk, the name-matching step built into PayID is still considered a meaningful safety improvement over older transfer methods, since at least some verification occurs before a payment is sent, compared with a traditional transfer using only an account number and routing code with no name confirmation at all.

Beyond individual consumers, PayID has also been adopted by businesses and government agencies as a simpler way for customers to pay invoices or receive refunds, using a registered PayID, such as an Australian Business Number, instead of requiring the payer to locate and correctly enter a full BSB and account number. This business-facing use extends the same core benefit, reduced misdirected payments and faster settlement, into commercial contexts well beyond simple person-to-person transfers.

As adoption has grown, PayID has become closely associated in Australia with everyday digital payments more broadly, often cited alongside other real-time payment innovations as evidence of how quickly a shared, bank-backed infrastructure can be adopted when it is simple enough for ordinary consumers to use without technical knowledge.

A single bank account can have more than one PayID registered against it in some cases, such as both a phone number and an email address, giving the account holder flexibility in which identifier they choose to share with different payers depending on the context.

Businesses registering a PayID for their Australian Business Number must generally verify that registration through their bank, ensuring the name displayed to payers accurately reflects the registered business rather than an individual's name.

• Reserve Bank of Australia