Eftpos Payments Australia to roll out EMV in 2013

Payment provider, Eftpos Payments Australia, has confirmed that it will be introducing card security chip technology EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa), and contactless card payment options to Australians during 2013.

EMV is the global standard used by card providers for integrated circuit (IC) debit and credit cards used with point of sale (POS) terminals. MasterCard Australia has indicated that all of its cards and payment terminals would be upgraded to EMV by April 2013.

Speaking at BankTech2012 in Sydney, Eftpos Payments Australia chief executive, Bruce Mansfield, told delegates that the company was in the second phase of its EMV pilot program which includes the introduction of contactless payment technology.

“We should finish pilots by the end of 2012 and look to implementation in 2013,” he said.

“Many consumers as well as members of Eftpos Payments Australia had been calling for EMV and contact less payment at the same time to give consumers choice.”

In addition, the company was planning to take on what Mansfield said was its biggest rival — cash.

Citing statistics from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Payment Systems Board Report 2011, he said 64 per cent of all household transactions in Australia were still made with cash.

This was partly because in Australia, Eftpos payments frequently must be $10 or over. However, he suggested that the payments industry in Australia adopt the New Zealand model where Kiwis can buy items under $10 using their Eftpos system.

“The only thing that is different in New Zealand is that Eftpos has always been a low cost payment option versus competitive products and the payments system has a very centralised infrastructure,” Mansfield said.

“The RBA recently announced that it would like to see more centralised infrastructure [of the payment card industry] and a level of competition between various payment systems which tends to deliver lower cost payment products,” he said.

According to Mansfield the average amount spent on Eftpos sat at the $50 mark but his company wanted to get that transaction level below $10.

To get more Australians using Eftpos, he said the company would need to look at issues including safety, speed, convenience and cost.

“We don’t want to have a transaction for $10 with a 50 cent surcharge, that is not an efficient outcome,” he said.

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