Hosted in the cloud, the sandbox opens access to the NPP API Framework, jointly developed by Swift and NPP to promote standardisation and interoperability across new applications.

The framework has documented three sample APIs that NPP participants could make available to the wider fintech and payments community in Australia. These are:

• PayID Resolution Request - to determine the bank account related to a particular personal or business identifier such as a mobile phone number or email address;
• Payment Initiation Request - to instruct the NPP participant to initiate a payment instruction through the NPP; and
• Payment Status Request - to check on the status of an NPP payment

Adrian Lovney, CEO of NPP Australia, says APIs and a testing facility are the two major areas that Australian fintechs have been asking for support in relation to the real-time payments platform.

He says: "This testing environment will enable third party service providers, software developers and participating financial institutions to test and see the NPP’s benefits and capabilities in a way that will ensure interoperability and consistency, regardless of the type of innovation they are focused on.”

The initiative has been welcomed by Australia's fintech support group. Alan Tsen, chair of Fintech Australia says: “Our members have told us that they are keen to understand the NPP - how it works, its capabilities, but most importantly, how they can tap into its benefits to bring their own innovation to life. The API Framework and testing environment will be key to enabling the fintech community to do this, so we welcome this development.”