Chris Jewell Discusses PayTo

We asked Zepto CEO, Chris Jewell, for his take on PayTo and the impact it will have on how money moves between consumers and merchants, and why merchants should be gearing up for it now. 

Here’s what he had to say.

Traditional direct debit is a legacy payments workhorse that, either as merchants or customers, we’re all familiar with. And, let’s be fair, it’s good, but not great.

Why? Because all parties in the process have pain points: Payers have to deal with a general lack of visibility and control, and inability to self-manage their direct debit obligations; Merchants have to deal with failed payments, constricted cash flow, funding lags, and dissatisfied customers; And banks have to deal with issues around disputed payments, fraud, even confirmation that an explicit consent-to-payment agreement was established in the first place, and continues to be consented-to moving forward.

PayTo will be a new way for payer customers to electronically pre-authorise real-time payments from their bank accounts. It will give merchants the ability to validate customer accounts accurately in real time, and benefit from real-time notifications at key stages of a payment’s lifecycle.

The NPP’s infrastructure has given merchants the ability to receive funds in real time, pay out in real time, and–with PayTo–they’ll be able to pull funds or collect in real time. It’s a game-changer. Think of it as instant direct debit that will deliver faster, guaranteed payments for merchants, supercharged cash flow, and have businesses humming like never before. 

What PayTo brings to the table for consumers is a much more transparent model where they can see all the commitments that they’ve consented to from their bank accounts. PayTo will also give them the ability to pause, re-time and manage their direct debit obligations in real-time to, for example, align with pay day events. So there will be far more transparency, visibility and–significantly–control over where their money’s going, when, and to whom–there’s a clear ‘life admin’ and customer experience benefit in that.

PayTo will fundamentally change the direct debit dynamic. One thing that merchants will have to adapt to is the consumer’s ability to self-manage the payment agreement. For as long as the world has had recurring payment capability, the merchant has been in the driver’s seat. 

Without doubt, that shift will make some merchants a little uncomfortable. But we’re confident that when they see the transformative elevation of customer experience, happier [and more loyal] consumers, the radically improved cash flow of real-time funding, fewer failed payments and other frustrations, they’ll embrace it fully.

PayTo will change payments in Australia for good. And not just recurring ones. We see applications in all kinds of areas.

Best of all, our legendary, single API means existing Zepto merchant partners will have to do precisely zero development work when PayTo switches on in 2022. 

Get on board now, make the most of our already super-enhanced direct debit solutions, and be ready for every bit of PayTo innovation coming down the pipe.