National Australia Bank has acquired Banked, a Pay by Bank and A2A payments platform, to expand its real-time payments capability for business customers.
Founded in 2018, Banked operates a Pay by Bank platform enabling real-time, low-cost transactions that allow merchants to receive funds directly from a customer's bank account, bypassing card network intermediaries. The technology is designed to reduce costs for merchants while offering a streamlined checkout experience, with payments settled faster than through traditional card-based rails.
From investor to owner
According to the official press release, NAB's relationship with Banked predates the acquisition. Through NAB Ventures, its venture capital arm, the bank participated in three funding rounds in 2022, 2023, and 2024, holding a minority stake prior to the full acquisition. NAB had also been deploying Banked's technology commercially since 2024, integrating it into services for its business customers.
The move from strategic investor to outright owner reflects a broader pattern among established banks seeking to internalise fintech capabilities rather than rely on third-party arrangements, particularly in payments infrastructure where speed, cost, and control are increasingly competitive differentiators.
In the immediate term, the Banked group of entities will operate as wholly owned subsidiaries of NAB. The bank has indicated plans to integrate Banked into its broader technology environment in the coming months, with the goal of consolidating payments, reconciliation, and settlement into a single platform for merchants.
Positioning within Australia's shifting payments landscape
The acquisition sits within a wider structural shift in Australia's payments sector towards real-time and A2A options. Alongside card networks and digital wallets, Pay by Bank is gaining traction as merchants seek lower transaction costs and faster access to funds. The Australian payments market has seen sustained investment in real-time infrastructure, supported by the New Payments Platform (NPP), which underpins instant bank-to-bank transfers in the country.
For NAB, integrating Banked's product and engineering capabilities is intended to strengthen its position as a payments provider for businesses of varying scale. The platform also offers merchants a faster, lower-cost route to receiving payments, while maintaining a smooth checkout experience for end customers.
Banked's platform has been described as built with developers and merchants in mind, supporting flexibility across transaction volumes and business sizes. With NAB's distribution and existing payments infrastructure, the platform is expected to reach a broader merchant base than it could as an independent company.
The transaction reinforces NAB's stated strategy of expanding its A2A and real-time payments capabilities as a long-term growth area within business banking, a segment where payment efficiency, working capital management, and settlement speed carry material operational significance for clients.
