A new payments systems is "on track" to be able to deliver real time bank transfers and the ability to ditch BSB numbers from Australia Day.

While most people take a break over summer, banks will be putting the finishing touches on the biggest overhaul in the payments system in years.

The new payments platform or NPP is a $1 billion project to deliver real-time payments between customers of different banks, and the company to run the system says it will be rolled out to the public after Australia Day next year.

The long-running project has been scheduled to be launched this quarter, and despite industry chatter about some banks dragging the chain, chief executive of NPP Australia Adrian Lovney said the project was still running on time, as it would go "live" next month to a limited number of people.