Eftpos has launched an electronic payments capability to facilitate peer-to-peer (P2P) real-time transactions.
The service is really a deposit and withdrawal messaging capability so users could make payments from their accounts using Eftpos between Australian debit cardholders “in seconds”.
The payment service has initially been launched on payment app Beem It , which it bought in November from its former owners the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, and Westpac.
According to Eftpos CEO Stephen Benton, the ability will replace manual processes with real-time transfer of funds.
“This capability will work for Australia since it aims to enhance productivity by automating the manual and cost inefficient transfer of funds, using Eftpos’ existing and trusted Australian card network with entry to thousands of Australian merchants and numerous consumers, ” he said.
Benton added the platform could potentially be used for other P2P or business-to-consumer payments like insurance payouts, government disbursements, rebates, instant payroll, loyalty cashback, gift card loading, and newsagency lottery payouts.
“Many Australian businesses possess the potential to benefit from these alternative low cost and real time payments which enable the secure deposit or deduction of funds from a cardholder’s account, ” he said.
Earlier immediately the company teamed up with Fintech Australia to launch what has dubbed as a fintech advisory committee.
“The aim of the committee is to advise Eftpos on ways we can develop our efforts to make it easier for fintechs to gain access to the Eftpos network and our services and products, to be able to build their own businesses and payment experiences that may work across a broad range of connected devices within the digital economy, ” Benton said.
Joining the committee are fintech companies Assembly Payments, Azupay, Bleuco, Meeco, Monoova, Paypa Plane, and Verrency.
All seven will be involved in a number of monthly workshops to pay attention to the Eftpos digital roadmap and API programs, before providing recommendations to Eftpos by mid-year.
Last August, Eftpos made its first play in the digital payment realm with the rollout of its digital payment service to banks and retailers.
Prior to that, the payments company teamed up with distributed ledger firm Hedera Hashgraph to create a micropayments proof-of-concept in hopes it could be used as a substitute payment to monthly subscriptions or paywalls.