The country’s domestic debit scheme, Eftpos Australia, is extending the functionality of its recently acquired Beem It live payments platform to include a bill payment service.
The service expansion of Beem It is part of a wider strategic push by Eftpos to deepen its presence in digital payments markets in the next two years through distribution partnerships with retailers and product collaborations with fintechs.
Eftpos chief executive Stephen Benton said the digital strategy would deliver value and security in ecommerce for members of the scheme, retailers and fintechs looking to bring product innovations to market.
“The Eftpos digital product strategy has been devised with an Australian focus, creating world-class innovations to compete against global players,” Benton said.
“The strategy we embarked on two years ago aimed to transition Eftpos from a card present retail business to a major player in the centre of Australian ecommerce that leverages our world-class technology investments.”
“It’s been a journey not without challenges, but it has come together better than we could ever have hoped, with a keystone being the recent acquisition of Beem It.”
Beem It’s 1.3 million users were notified earlier this week that they would be able to pay bills through BPay using their mobile wallet from early next year.
Users were also told that they would be able to purchase digital gift cards from leading retailers through the wallet.
Digital gift cards are a booming product line because they are likely to result in a material reduction in the level of unredeemed value caused by the loss of physical cards.
In 2017, the unredeemed gift card problem resulted in Australian consumers losing A$70 million in purchasing power.
“In many ways, Eftpos was Australia’s first Fintech and our digital strategy builds on that history to deliver on Eftpos’ purpose - to do good for Australia,” Benton said.
There are five pillars to the digital expansion program, each of which will extend Eftpos’ business activities.
They are digital wallets, digital identity, fintech access, ecommerce and a national QR code service.
Eftpos’ has partnered with the Queensland Government and Australia Post to develop its digital identity platform, known as ConnectID.
This service acts as a broker between identity providers and is designed to help verify people online, especially for transactions that involve payments.
The ecommerce piece is perhaps the most strategic for Eftpos as Australian consumers gravitate to online shopping in response to the Coid-19 pandemic.
Benton indicated Eftpos would launch a swathe of ecommerce solutions early next year, including anti-fraud tools designed specifically for the Australian market.
A pilot for the planned rollout of QR code capability is also planned for 2021.