National Australia Bank Acquires Open Banking Fintech Banked

National Australia Bank has acquired Banked, a global Pay by Bank and payments orchestration platform, converting a minority stake held through NAB Ventures into full ownership. The bank announced the transaction on Thursday, saying Banked's entities would operate as wholly owned subsidiaries and be integrated into the NAB technology environment in the coming months.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. NAB said the acquisition would deepen a relationship that began in 2022, when its corporate venture arm made the first of three successive investments in the London-headquartered fintech between 2022 and 2024.

FROM MINORITY STAKE TO FULL OWNERSHIP

NAB Ventures participated in Banked's earlier funding rounds as a minority shareholder before the parent bank moved to take control of the business outright. NAB said the acquisition strengthens its payments capability and supports its strategy to improve payments for businesses.

Founded in 2018, Banked provides Pay by Bank and payment orchestration technology that lets businesses take secure, low-cost, real-time payments directly from customers' bank accounts, without the need for a credit or debit card, across multiple markets.

“Bringing Banked into NAB will continue to make it easier for customers to connect with us and manage payments, reconciliation and settlement in one place,” said Shane Conway, NAB Group Executive, Transformation.

INTEGRATION PLANNED OVER COMING MONTHS

In its announcement, NAB said that in the near term the Banked group of entities would operate as wholly owned subsidiaries. The lender said the technology would be brought inside its own environment in the coming months.

NAB has used Banked's Pay by Bank technology with business customers since 2024.

“Having the backing of NAB will allow the platform to reach more customers,” said Banked chief executive and co-founder Brad Goodall.