Payment solutions firm, Smartpay, plans to run Eftpos terminals for Australian banks. Auckland-based Smartpay provides Eftpos terminals, service and support to merchants in return for a monthly fee. It is the biggest provider of Eftpos terminals in New Zealand. The company is looking to work with banks in Australia to provide and operate Eftpos terminals, which Smartpay says is becoming an increasingly non-core activity for the banks. Smartpay has already signed up the Bendigo Bank to t
he Smartpay service.
“Just as we saw a move by banks away from owning and operating ATMs (automatic teller machines) to allowing specialist operators to manage and develop their technology, we are beginning to see a similar revolution with Eftpos terminals,” said Smartpay managing director Bradley Gerdis.
Smartpay is listed on the New Zealand stock exchange and started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Wednesday.
Gerdis said Smartpay did not issue any new shares for the Australian listing, and current shareholders would have to transfer their stock from the New Zealand market to the Australian market to trade here.
Gerdis said he expected there would be good interest in Smartpay from Australian investors now that it was listed on the ASX.
He said that when Smartpay raised capital last year there had been interest from some Australian institutional investors who were prohibited by their mandate from investing in companies not listed on the ASX.
Smartpay has more than 30,000 Eftpos terminals under rental contract in New Zealand and about 10,000 terminals under rental contract in Australia.
The company estimates that its market share in Australia is about one per cent and views the Australian market, where there are about 800,000 Eftpos terminals installed, as a key growth opportunity.
In 2012, Australian consumers carried out more than 2.2 billion Eftpos transactions.
AAP
