A payment instrument is a stored, reusable and verifiable payment method for receiving or disbursing funds on behalf of a customer or business. Rather than passing raw account details in every request, you create an instrument once and reference it by ID.
This guide covers:
- Key Benefits: Why use payment instruments
- Instrument Types: The types of instruments supported
- How Payment Instruments Relate to Other Features: CoP and Payouts
- Getting Started: Links to implementation guides
Key Benefits
- Reusability: Store account details once and reuse them across multiple payouts
- Verification: Verify account owner details before sending funds, reducing the risk of misdirected payments
- Auditability: Maintain a full record of account details and verification history per recipient
- Reporting: Group instruments and payments under a customer record for a complete view of customer activity
Instrument Types
Bank Account
A bank account identified by a BSB and account number. Supports Confirmation of Payee (CoP) name verification via the NPP network and can be used as the destination account for Payouts.
PayID Receivable
A PayID alias for receiving NPP payments, without requiring payers to know a BSB and account number. Common use cases include topping up a digital wallet or paying an invoice. PayID Receivable instruments have their own activation and deactivation lifecycle managed via dedicated endpoints.
How Payment Instruments Relate to Other Features
Payment instruments are a shared building block used across several Banked features:
Confirmation of Payee (CoP)
CoP is the supported verification method for bank account instruments in Australia. It checks whether the account owner name you hold matches the name registered at the recipient's financial institution, before you send funds.
See the Confirmation of Payee guide for details.
Payouts
Bank account instruments can be used as the destination when sending a payout, allowing you to manage recipient accounts separately from the payout workflow and reuse verified accounts across multiple disbursements.
See the Payouts API Reference for details.
Getting Started
Everything you need to start working with payment instruments:
Additional Resources
- Authentication Guide - Set up secure API access
- Development Environments - Configure sandbox and production
- Confirmation of Payee - Verify bank accounts before sending payouts
- Payouts API Reference - Send funds to stored payment instruments