Eftpos hikes scheme fees

Eftpos will lift scheme fees by 50 per cent over two stages to help fund ongoing investment in its belated move to adapt its payment cards into a online purchasing tool.

The scheme fee will rise by 0.3 cents in October 2015 and then and 0.2 cents in July 2016, taking the fee to 1.5 cents.  

Warwick Ponder, executive manager for corporate affairs, explained in an email that:  "the scheme fee change will enable Eftpos to invest in new products and services and continue to drive competition in the Australian payments market, including on new channels such as mobile and online."

Ponder said Eftpos had not changed its scheme fees "for almost five years" - that is, since the reformation of proprietary debit payments in Australia in 2010 - "despite rapid technology change and significant investment in the Eftpos transformation," including the new, centralised industry hub.


Eftpos consider its scheme's transactions "remain a low cost option in the Australian market."
 
Ponder pointed out "Eftpos transaction scheme fees will still be significantly lower than the fees of the international card schemes."

Eftpos generated A$51 million from fees in the year to June 2014 and produced a surplus of $10 million. It spent about $9 million on the hub and online projects. It held $33 million in net assets at the year.