Merchants struggling with high credit card processing fees and delayed settlements are getting a powerful new alternative as National Australia Bank (NAB) officially acquires the FinTech platform Banked. The strategic buyout aims to accelerate the adoption of account-to-account (A2A) payments, allowing businesses to bypass traditional card networks entirely. By integrating Banked’s global technology platform, NAB is positioning itself to offer digital checkouts that are faster, cheaper, and more reliable for both consumers and enterprise clients.
The acquisition is the culmination of a long-standing relationship between the two financial entities. NAB has been utilizing Banked’s technology since 2024 and previously backed the startup through its venture capital arm, NAB Ventures. The partnership proved its scale in January 2025 when the companies successfully launched a "pay by bank" checkout option for Amazon's Australian storefront. In the near term, NAB plans to operate Banked as a wholly owned subsidiary before fully integrating the platform into its core technology environment over the coming months.
The shift toward real-time payments is becoming a baseline expectation for modern commerce. Shane Conway, NAB Group Executive for Transformation, explained that "bringing Banked into NAB will continue to make it easier for customers to connect with us and manage payments, reconciliation and settlement in one place." For the FinTech side, the buyout provides the necessary capital to expand. Banked CEO Brad Goodall emphasized that the team built a globally proven platform tailored to modern developers, noting that "having the backing of NAB will allow the platform to reach more customers."
We see the most inertia with very large clients, who have deep integrations into legacy payments infrastructure.
- Shane Conway, National Australia Bank
Strategic Advantages for Merchants
The integration of Banked into the ecosystem of NAB is designed to solve several critical pain points in the B2B and retail payment sectors. Key benefits include:
- Reduced Transaction Costs: Bypassing traditional credit and debit card rails eliminates interchange fees, directly improving merchant profit margins.
- Instant Settlement: Account-to-account infrastructure ensures funds are transferred in real-time, drastically improving cash flow compared to multi-day card settlements.
- Simplified Reconciliation: Consolidating payment processing and bank settlements into a single platform reduces administrative overhead for finance teams.
The Threat to Traditional Card Networks
The fact that NAB acquires Banked outright, rather than just licensing its software, signals a major structural shift in how tier-one banks view traditional card networks. For decades, banks relied heavily on legacy rails to facilitate merchant transactions. By owning an A2A payment gateway directly, NAB is effectively building a parallel financial highway that cuts out the middlemen. The successful deployment of this tech on Amazon Australia in 2025 proved that consumers are willing to adopt "pay by bank" at scale if the checkout friction is removed.
This acquisition also highlights the growing pressure on legacy enterprise systems. As Conway noted, large clients are often paralyzed by their deep integrations into outdated payment infrastructure. By bringing the developer-friendly, modern API stack of Banked in-house, NAB is lowering the technical barrier for these massive corporations to finally upgrade. If this A2A model becomes the default standard in Australia, expect a ripple effect across global markets, forcing traditional card issuers to aggressively rethink their fee structures to remain competitive.
