To date St. George Bank has purchased 500 of the new terminals from point of sale (POS) terminal manufacturer Intellect, and a further 2500 are expected to be distributed to the bank's merchant customers over the next 12 to 24 months, according to Phil Kanizay, national manager of St.George's e-business arm.
The rollout of the service, which is in its most advanced stages in Victoria, follows the Victorian Newsagency Association's trial of the terminals. The new POS facilities are also being trialed by Newsagents Solutions in Queensland.
A co-development between Intellect and retail kiosk operator Touchcorp, the technology will give Touchcorp's current clients--which include Optus, Vodafone and Shell among others --access to the EFTPOS platform.
Revenue from the service will be collected on a per-transaction basis and split between the financial institutions, Intellect and Touchcorp.
Intellect appears to be most dependent on revenue derived from transactions. Kanizay said the new terminals would boost St.George's margins by increasing value of transaction on its merchant network. Touchcorp said that its profitability comes from licensing service providers to use its applications.
