SYDNEY, March 6, 2026, 17:05 AEDT
Macquarie Bank on Friday announced it’s brought PayID to its DEFT payments platform, letting tenants anywhere in Australia pay rent almost instantly—and skip third-party processing charges. DEFT, which the bank says is used by over 1,200 real estate agencies, processes upwards of 1.2 million rental payments each month. 1
Timing is key here. In New South Wales, new rules from March 2 mandate that landlords and agents must provide Centrepay—a no-cost bill payment service for those on Centrelink—and an approved electronic bank transfer option. Forcing tenants to use a specific app or provider? That’s now off the table. 2
Just days after the new rules kicked in, Macquarie has rolled out another fee-free electronic payment choice for agencies. 1
The move intensifies rivalry among banks and tech firms focused on rent payments. Last year, Commonwealth Bank announced its Smart Real Estate Payments offering would be added to MRI Software’s Property Tree, giving tenants, agents and property managers access to BPAY, direct debit, PayTo, and card payments. 3
PayID works as a unique tag—think a phone number or business ID—connected to a bank account, making it possible to transfer funds via online or mobile banking without typing in the usual BSB and account details. Macquarie says tenants using DEFT will be able to verify the letting agent’s information before making payments, which the bank claims should help guard against errors, scams, and fraud. 4
Olivia McArdle, head of deposits and payments at Macquarie Bank, said the move aims to spare renters from fees tacked on by certain ‘RentTech’ platforms. With rent already eating up a big chunk of household budgets, she added, piling on extra charges “shouldn’t come with added fees.” 1
Macquarie announced that most DEFT reference numbers are now automatically being converted into PayIDs, essentially transforming them into email-style identifiers customers can use via their standard banking app or through internet banking. According to the bank, this update should make it easier for agent clients to comply with the requirement to provide at least one free, accessible rent payment option. 1
Macquarie’s latest launch comes as part of its wider effort to expand its domestic banking arm. In a Feb. 10 trading update, the company reported stronger profit across all four core divisions for the third quarter. Banking and financial services delivered a marginally bigger slice, driven by growth in both loans and deposits. 5
Still, not everything is running smoothly. According to Macquarie’s help pages, agencies have to enable PayID for their DEFT reference numbers, and software providers need to integrate reconciliation for those payments. That means adoption could be uneven, especially with competitors working on similar digital rent-payment options. 6
Macquarie is pushing deeper into real-estate banking, a sector where it claims three decades of experience working with agents. The latest step brings in another homegrown payments tool to sit with the group’s established asset management, commodities, and advisory arms. 7
