Banking & payment system non-processing days

Created by Andy McCutcheon, Modified on Thu, 26 Mar at 10:21 AM by Andy McCutcheon

Public holidays can affect when banks process and settle transactions.

These delays are driven by payment system rules and not by Zai’s operations.

You and your customers can initiate payments on any day, but some systems do not process or exchange payments on weekends or public holidays, which affects when the recipient receives funds. The impact varies between traditional and modern payment systems.

Traditional Payment Systems

Traditional payment systems such as Direct Debit, Direct Credit (the Direct Entry system), and BPAY only process transactions on banking business days. A banking business day is Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays recognised on the same date in both NSW and Victoria.

The table below lists the public holidays in 2025, 2026, and 2027 that are not banking business days and will add one additional day to expected settlement times.

Modern Payment Systems

The New Payments Platform (NPP), including Osko and PayTo, operates 24/7 and continues processing every day of the year.

Banking non-processing weekdays for 2025–2027

Holiday	2025	2026	2027
New Year’s Day	Wed 1 Jan	Thu 1 Jan	Fri 1 Jan
Australia Day	Mon 27 Jan*	Mon 26 Jan	Tue 26 Jan
Good Friday	Fri 18 Apr	Fri 3 Apr	Fri 26 Mar
Easter Monday	Mon 21 Apr	Mon 6 Apr	Mon 29 Mar
ANZAC Day	Fri 25 Apr	N/A**	N/A**
King’s Birthday	Mon 9 Jun	Mon 8 Jun	Mon 14 Jun
Christmas Day	Thu 25 Dec	Fri 25 Dec	Mon 27 Dec*
Boxing Day	Fri 26 Dec	Mon 28 Dec*	Tue 28 Dec*

* Public holiday observed in lieu of a special day occurring on a weekend.
** When ANZAC Day falls on a weekend, there is no nationally recognised substitute holiday, so banking business days are unaffected.