In a sector renowned for much of its work and yet an icon of cultural despair, Australian banking is getting set to jettison much of its pioneer computing legacy in Australian society.Business practices informed by the information technology capabilities of 1960s and 1970s IT form the centrepiece of the Australian banking sector.The overnight drip feed of payments, new deposits in tens of millions of household accounts each night, is a now decrepit achievement of Australia's banking sector.The model in use today, right through this Christmas, New Year and the defenestration of the Turnbull government over 2017, is clapped out, years past its use-by date and an insult to Australian enterprise.Banks are fixing this, and making steady progress - or so the story goes.The New Payments Platform will whirr into gear on schedule, Adrian Lovney, explained in an email. "Assuming the completion of a complex and thorough testing regime, the NPP is on track to be operational by Christmas 2017," he wrote."Banks are beginning to position the benefits NPP will offer to their customers."Lovney said that, "as we come to the end of 2016, the NPP is gathering considerable momentum.  There are many hundreds of people inside the banks and our technology partners, such as SWIFT, working on the program.  "NPP Australia itself now has eight staff and we are all focused on the journey towards go-live, as well as growing the platform.  The rule book which will govern the NPP and its open access regime are with the ACCC for authorisation."Swifter payments are being promised."Those people who have opted-in via their financial institution to use the NPP will be able to make and receive payments in a matter of seconds, via BPAY's initial convenience service," Lovney said.Branding PR is yet to flow from BPAY. The boilerplate: "Via the NPP's addressing service, customers will be able to link an easy-to-remember identifier to their account, such as an email address, mobile phone number, ABN/ACN, so people can send them payments without having to use a BSB and account number.  "This identifier can be moved between accounts or financial institutions through a relatively simple process which will empower consumers to switch NPP payments quite easily."The number of people using the NPP "will increase quickly over time as more participants join the original 13 banks," Lovney said.Overlays are central to the NPP model and amid the fintech fluff the longlist of promoters of this service is granite on which to build.These, Lovney said, are "service providers, other organisations that offer payment or payment related products and services."They will, he said, "start using the NPP to bring their offerings to life.  "For these organisations, the NPP will be an opportunity to help solve common pain points such as efficiency, improved customer service and cost reduction through automation. " When it comes to what these overlay service offerings could look like, Lovney said "it's likely that the transmission of data along with payments will mean business applications will be a key focus."Many finance silos will be active