An icon of Australian retailing and a fervent campaigner for low-cost and more efficient payments is taking up a new job in banking.
From early July, Russell Zimmerman will take on a new role as an executive consultant at Eftpos Australia, a contract job. Advocacy and tutoring will be his main responsibilities, Eftpos once more showcasing its independence and at a delicate time for payments and banking in this country to boot.
Paul Zahra, the former David Jones CEO, replaces Zimmerman as the new head of the Australian Retail Association, a role the latter held from 2009.
A shoe retailer by trade, Zimmerman was one of the stirrers behind the Australian Merchants Payments Forum which lives on at the ARA and is now in Zahra’s court.
Zimmerman will be set to talk with businesses of all stripe and their associations about the simplicity and affordability in the Eftpos story.
There are three strands to Zimmerman’s remit: Talking to the market on the utility of least cost routing in payments processing; badgering banks to better promote this option; and campaigning for hesitant SMEs to “take it up."
Eftpos CEO Stephen Benton said: “While Russell will focus on helping businesses reduce their costs, he will also consider other ways we can add value for Australian businesses to help them get through this difficult time, deliver better services to their customers and grow for the future.”
“My role as executive consultant is to grow Eftpos …. how can I save the retailers money and get the message out,” Zimmerman told Banking Day, also clarifying he is “almost 67”.
Eftpos has a better cost story to sell to this docile merchant market, with the standard interchange fee paid by small retailers being cut by 50 per cent to 2 cents for routed contactless debit card transactions, plus a scheme fee.
The repricing means small businesses will pay the same rate as big chains.