Citi has introduced PayTo initiator services for its institutional clients in Australia, offering a real-time account-to-account payment solution as an alternative to credit and debit cards and direct debits. This initiative positions Citi within the New Payments Platform (NPP) ecosystem of Australia.

Through PayTo, Citi’s institutional clients can now trigger pull payments directly from their customers’ bank accounts in real time. This arrangement enhances visibility into payment flows and mitigates several issues related to traditional card-based collection methods.

Operational Advantages and Applications

PayTo addresses two significant challenges for institutional clients: transaction fees associated with cards and the risk of chargebacks. By moving transactions to direct bank account debits, clients can reduce reliance on card network fees and minimize exposure to disputed payments.

The service is suitable for various types of transactions, including in-app and e-commerce payments, outsourced payroll processing, utility bill collections, flight bookings, subscription billing, and digital wallet top-ups. This reflects the flexibility of NPP infrastructure supporting real-time settlement across Australian financial institutions.

Reconciliation processes are also streamlined under PayTo, as the direct account-to-account model provides clearer data links between payment initiation and final settlement, reducing the need for manual matching by finance teams.

Place in Citi’s Service Offerings

PayTo is part of a broader range of services within Citi’s Services business. The division already provides Spring by Citi, an all-encompassing digital payments service for global ecommerce and B2B funds flows, as well as Real-Time Funding for cross-border transactions targeting corporate clients. Adding PayTo enhances Citi’s real-time payments portfolio in the domestic Australian market.

Developed within the context of Australia’s broader efforts to modernize its financial infrastructure, PayTo builds on the NPP by allowing third parties to facilitate authorized payment agreements for their clients. An official from Citi highlighted the shift towards a digital economy as a motivating factor and noted strong anticipated client uptake due to growing awareness of cost and operational benefits.