PayPal has announced it will take up eftpos membership, with plans to connect directly to the the eftpos Hub, to access a "real time centralised payments infrastructure", in 2016. The move will see PayPal Australia, the local operation of the self-described "technology and payment agnostic" platform, become just the fourth new eftpos member to join since the inception of eftpos as a payment system in 2009, following ING Direct, Tyro and Adyen.Eftpos has recently upgraded its online payments infrastructure, and managing director Bruce Mansfield said his organisation would work with PayPal and other members to ensure eftpos was available to consumers and merchants as a payment option for online transactions.PayPal has the largest retail customer base of any online payments platform in Australia, with six million active consumer account holders and over 110,000 merchants. Libby Roy, vice president and managing director of PayPal Australia said: "Our membership of eftpos takes us one step closer to giving consumers the ability to use any funding mechanism through PayPal [in order to] to transact securely and conveniently online and via mobile devices." "The eftpos membership is a unique arrangement for PayPal globally and highlights the investment PayPal is making in the Australian market with a local card scheme," Roy said.She said eftpos should be available as a payments choice for PayPal users "in the near future."