Aussie retailers set for eftpos trials

CHICAGO, USA: eftpos has announced it would begin mobile payments trials with selected Australian retailers in the next few months.

The CEO, Bruce Mansfield, said eftpos had signed a five-year agreement with C-SAM to provide an eftpos mobile wallet and NFC widget, to meet the needs of eftpos in the Australian market.

Mansfield said that in addition to mobile payments, the technology could also enable new eftpos services such as offers, loyalty and transfer of receipts.

"After almost 30 years in the market as Australia's most used payment card network at the point of sale, eftpos is now looking at new ways to pay," Mr. Mansfield said. "This agreement will enable eftpos to move into proof of concept trials very quickly, to test various solutions for the Australian market.

"We want to make sure that any new technology that we offer on mobile devices is going to provide financial institutions, retailers and consumers with secure, accessible and affordable payment solutions that they have come to expect from eftpos.

"In an effort to make eftpos mobile payments as simple, flexible and accessible as possible, the new eftpos mobile wallet and the NFC widget will be developed as white label products that could potentially be used by a number of Australian retailers or financial institutions."

The C-SAM platform, as added in the announcement, will enable eftpos to offer smartphone users a comprehensive mobile wallet for conducting secure near-field-communication (NFC) transactions related to payments and other value-added services.

"C-SAM's extensive experience in NFC and mobile payments has produced a scalable and secure mobile wallet management platform that is supported by years of research and development across a range of industries," C-SAM CEO, Felix Marx said. "Our partnership with eftpos enables eftpos to deploy mobile wallet capabilities quickly and easily under various brands."