The country's payments system takes a significant step forward with the processing of transactions being extended to seven days a week.

Previously, payments done on a weekend would not go through until Monday, but now they will be done on the same day, every day of the year.

Payments NZ chief executive Steve Wiggins said the change was a major modernisation of a key piece of financial infrastructure.

"Previously, banks could only send and settle payment transactions on business days. But from this weekend, consumers and businesses will be able to transact every day of the year and no longer need to wait for a traditional business day."

--- Need help with your debit? Contact Debtfix - NZ's first debt charity dedicated to reducing debt in New Zealand---

Ten banks - ANZ, ASB, Bank of China, BNZ, Citi, HSBC, ICBC, Kiwibank, TSB and Westpac - had signed up, and the change would affect all direct credit, debit, automatic and bill payments.

Wiggins said that would help the cashflow of small businesses allowing them to pay and be paid, especially over long weekends such as Easter, and buying and selling on online trading sites such as TradeMe would be easier.

He said people needed to be aware of how the change might affect them.

"Electronic bank payments like automatic payments and direct debit payments may come out on their actual due date, which could be a weekend or public holiday.... and people should check their automatic payments, and make sure they have funds to cover those payments."

Wiggins said more than $1.5 trillion was transacted a year, and the next development being worked on was real time payments.