Weekend EFTPOS transactions hit $200 million and Monday transaction backlogs drop, as New Zealand moves to seven-day payments

Around $1 billion worth of money is now moving around between bank accounts each weekend, industry organisation Payments NZ says.

This includes some $200 million in electronic funds transfers at point of sale (EFTPOS) transactions on average each weekend, along with automatic and bill payments, plus as direct debits and credits.

New Zealand shifted to seven-day payments in May 2023, from the traditional five-day business week. Prior to the daily processing of payments, money was held up until the next business day which would usually be Monday, but could be a day or two later during public holidays.

Payments NZ chief executive Steve Wiggins said the transaction volumes on Mondays have fallen by 30% over the last year, with the move to seven-day payments.

“Seven-day payments have reduced risk across the financial system because we no longer have a backlog of payments each weekend going through systems on a Monday," Wiggins said.

He added that seeing value move quickly and smoothly through the economy regardless of the week is a great enabler for business and growth.

While the move to seven-day payments is hailed as a success, the introduction of real-time transactions is yet to materialise.

Australia has had real-time payments since 2018, but New Zealand is unlikely to get them before 2030. The Reserve Bank has criticised the slow progress towards real-time payments, with New Zealand being one of only two Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries along with Israel not to have them.