Banks warn payments delayed over Christmas weekend

Businesses have been warned to make sure they complete all payment processing before the weekend, with NAB and ANZ telling customers it won’t be able to process many transactions until after December 27.

The delay is not a technical glitch, and is a regular occurrence in the banking industry as the processes used to register payments are shut down over extended breaks.

The topic has been given more prominence by the banks due to the extended Christmas weekend, with both Monday, December 26 and Tuesday, December 27 designated as public holidays due to Christmas falling on a Sunday.

Both NAB and ANZ have said that businesses and customers should be aware that processing payments will take longer than usual. For payments made after Friday at 6pm, transactions may not occur until Wednesday or Thursday next week.

“Payments between ANZ and other financial institutions will not be processed from Saturday, December 24 to Tuesday, December 27,” a spokesperson for ANZ said in a statement.

“This is due to two public holidays over the Christmas period, which this year fall on business days (Monday, December 26 and Tuesday, December 27).”

Most businesses taking a break over the Christmas period schedule payments, such as payroll, in advance, but there will be some businesses that decide to leave those types of payments until early in the week.

Both NAB and ANZ have explained this is due course for the banking industry, as the Reserve Bank dictates a number of non-processing days, which include days such as weekends or public holidays.

“This is normal practice in the banking industry [not just ANZ] and something which occurs every year over the Christmas period, and also the Easter break. We’ve ensured that we’ve given our customers plenty of notice to manage during this period.”

Westpac, NAB and the Commonwealth Bank were all contacted this morning, but no replies were available prior to publication.