CBA launches new payments orchestration platform

CBA has partnered with Paydock, a fintech and payments orchestration platform, to launch PowerBoard. The new platform will allow merchants to “plug in” to the platform and deploy their ecommerce offering, gaining access to a range of payment methods which can be seamlessly switched on for their customers. According to CBA, PowerBoard will provide merchants of many sizes with payments acquiring, multi gateway capability, a menu of payment options, and an innovation roadmap that will future-proof their business and deliver technology efficiencies.

“Running an online business can be extremely time-consuming. Offering customers different payment methods and integrations traditionally requires merchants to complete multiple, complex website integrations, costing time and money,” said Group Executive Business Banking, Mike Vacy-Lyle. “The benefit of PowerBoard for merchants is the simplicity and ease with which they can now access these services. It means they can keep up with market changes and future-proof their business while achieving technology efficiencies.”

The PowerBoard portal offers merchants the options to switch on features and monitor real-time transactions. CBA has announced PowerBoard is set to integrate with various payment methods including traditional card payments, Apple Pay and Google Pay; BNPL, eftpos, PayTo, and digital gift cards. As well as payment options, the portal is set to offer enhanced bank grade security tools that support merchants to detect and prevent fraud.

“PowerBoard is a significant step for CBA as we look beyond traditional banking products and services to solve pain points for our customers and provide better, integrated solutions,” Said Vacy-Lyle. “This is about helping our business customers create better experiences for their own customers. We are incredibly excited to be the first bank to offer such a service, and are looking forward to building out the offering in the coming months.”

“Businesses and sellers in Australia-wide can finally enjoy easy access to preferred payment and fraud tools while aligning customer preferences and payment experiences,” said CEO of Paydock, Rob Lincolne. “Partnering with CBA was a natural and compelling choice for Paydock, aligning with our vision to offer the greatest benefit to as many merchants as possible in today’s fast moving, many-vendored fintech market. The time is right to see orchestration as the new market default.”

AFR has identified this launch as a move to take on fintech giants like Stripe. Which, in the past year, has had 100,000 new businesses had join the platform across Australia and New Zealand. Other competing ecommerce payment platforms with a similar vision includes Square, owns Afterpay. Valuable transaction data from BNPL operators like Afterpay has long been blocked from banks by the BNPL operators as the “merchant of record” usually is attributed to them and not the banks. PowerBoard is set to keep these transactions under one umbrella.

According to CBA, following an initial release to a limited selection of business customers, PowerBoard will be rolled out more widely from mid-2023.

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