Commonwealth Bank launches PaidIt for complex payouts

Commonwealth Bank has launched PaidIt, a platform for organisations to manage payouts such as remediation payments, refunds and settlements. The bank's venture scaling arm, x15ventures, developed the product.

PaidIt is designed for cases where organisations need to send money but have missing, incomplete or outdated recipient details. It brings recipient verification, communications and payment delivery into one system, allowing businesses to manage the process from claim to settlement.

The launch comes as Australian organisations prepare for the end of cheques, which have often been used when digital payment details are unavailable. As cheques are phased out, businesses and institutions are being forced to review how they handle payments to people they cannot easily identify or contact.

In many of these cases, companies have limited information, sometimes only a last known postal address, and must rely on manual tracing and checks before funds can be released. That can delay refunds, settlements and remediation programmes and leave money unclaimed for long periods.

How it works

At the centre of PaidIt is a recipient matching engine that applies identity and account checks to determine which payments can be processed automatically and which require further review. The system also uses workflows designed to give internal teams a clearer view of payout cases and reduce manual handling.

PaidIt uses parts of Australia's digital payments and identity infrastructure, including the New Payments Platform, PayID and ConnectID. Commonwealth Bank said the average time from when a recipient starts a claim to when funds arrive in their account is minutes.

PaidIt is already being used in some parts of Commonwealth Bank where customer payment details are missing or out of date. Additional functions will be introduced over time, and access will be extended to more internal business units and Corporate and Institutional Banking clients.

Unclaimed funds

The launch addresses a long-running issue in the Australian financial system: money that remains unpaid because recipients cannot be located or verified. Commonwealth Bank cited figures showing ASIC holds about AUD $2.7 billion in unclaimed money, with further sums held by state and territory governments.

Maja Enander, Managing Director, PaidIt, said: "Managing any kind of payout can be complex, but things become much harder when you don't have complete or current information about the person you're trying to pay. No one really benefits in these situations. While organisations often invest considerable effort and resources trying to complete the payment, it can be weeks, months or even years before people receive money they're owed, with some funds ultimately remaining unclaimed. Our ambition is to help organisations navigate that process with less complexity and greater confidence that every cent can find its rightful owner."

The issue is becoming more pressing as paper-based payment methods decline and institutions face pressure to move remediation and refund processes online. For large organisations, these programmes can involve significant operational work, especially where records are old or fragmented across multiple systems.

Founded in 2020, x15ventures builds and backs businesses linked to Commonwealth Bank. PaidIt is another example of the lender using the unit to develop products that can first be deployed internally before being offered more widely to business clients.

For Commonwealth Bank's institutional banking arm, the new platform is positioned as a tool for clients managing large or complex payment exercises. These can include customer remediation schemes, insurance or legal settlements, and refund programmes where confirming the correct recipient is a central challenge.

"As Australia moves towards a cheque-free future, organisations have an opportunity to rethink how they manage complex payouts, particularly in situations where cheques have traditionally provided a practical fallback. PaidIt is one way we're helping clients navigate that transition and shows how we can bring Commonwealth Bank's deep payments expertise together with x15ventures' venture-building capability to tackle complex institutional challenges. It's still early days, but the interest we're seeing from clients is encouraging and reinforces our belief that PaidIt can make a real difference," said Regis Petit, Executive General Manager, Institutional Transaction Banking, Commonwealth Bank.