EFTPOS gets more Intellect

Intellect and St.George Bank are rolling out 5500 EFTPOS terminals that sell a range of consumer products from newsagencies and other retailers in a deal worth more than $5 million.

The deal is an extension of an alliance first announced in August that uses Intellect devices incorporating technology from Melbourne e-tail product reseller Touchcorp.

Intellect and St.George Bank initially agreed to roll out 2500 TEMPO 510p EFTPOS terminals over the next 12 months. Yet after the first 500 were implemented, the companies decided to re-negotiate the contract to supply a total 5500 terminals.

Phil Kanizay, national manager of merchant services at St.George Bank, said the customer demand for diverse EFTPOS services was high.

"The first 500 went out very quickly and so we re-negotiated terms," he said.

The terminals use an Intellect platform, Trusted Access for Multiple Organisations (TAFMO), to deliver Touchcorp products and services including recreational fishing licences, road toll passes, pre-paid telephony services, utility billing, and tourist attraction tickets via EFT infrastructure.

"We believe other applications can also be deployed through the device," Kanizay said.

Reg Johnson, sales and marketing manager at Touchcorp, said newsagencies, Tattersalls outlets in Victoria, service stations, supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies in all States would all be targeted as sites for the devices.

"We are pushing it through newsletters to our merchants and customers," he said. "We aim to continue to develop and grow our product offering."

Kanizay said Intellect would also reap revenue from supplying service and back-end support for all 5500 devices. St.George Bank will lease the devices to retailers, who may have to rent a second EFTPOS terminal to deliver some of the services offered.

"In future it will be difficult to sell a merchant EFTPOS services without a suite of products like this," he said.

"By offering merchants the chance to sell new products without having to hold stock or worry about deliveries, we have created recurring revenues for all parties," said Jan de Smet, CEO at Intellect.

De Smet believes Intellect could be the first company to offer a platform that delivers multiple services and products via an EFTPOS device.

"Others have done this with a specific product or service, but Intellect has delivered this as a platform," he said. "Merchants love it when they can sell more products without having to stock them, or need additional counter space, and they never run out of product."

Intellect is reportedly negotiating with other Australian banks on similar deals and has also recently concluded a worldwide deal with Visa to offer chipcard infrastructure to 21,000 card members.

"This will give Intellect a strong foothold in many emerging markets, particularly eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia," de Smet said.