Bendigo Bank's mobile payments app is Redy

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank today sent its Redy mobile payments application live, after a year of teasing its customers with the promise of a new mobile payment service. 

Linked gallery: Test drive: Bendigo Bank's Redy payments app

Redy, available as an Android or iOS app, allows customers to make purchases on mobile devices, earn rewards on purchases, and choose to use the rewards for future purchases or donate them to charities and local community groups.

To make a purchase, consumers are asked to scan QR codes displayed on tablet-based point-of-sale machines installed at participating merchants.

The merchant enters the purchase amount into the Redy-enabled Samsung tablet, which generates a QR code for the customer to scan with their mobile device. Once scanned, the customer is given the option of approving the purchase.

Funds are then drawn from the user's Bendigo Bank, Visa and/or Mastercard accounts via Mastercard's Strategic Payment Services payment processing platform.

Real-time rewards (termed "creds" by the bank) are awarded to the shopper for each purchase. A cred is worth half a percent of the total purchase price.

There is a daily transaction limit of $1000, and each transaction incurs fees of 1.5 percent of the purchase price. 

Merchants using the Redy service are required to have a Bendigo bank account. The Redy mechant terminals are only available from Samsung and are leased to merchants at $25 per month. The devices have a refund capability that can instantly reverse a transaction, head of Bendigo Bank telco David Joss said.

Joss said Bendigo and Adelaide Bank had settled on QR codes as the technology of choice as it was the "common denominator" across all platforms. The bank also tested low-energy Bluetooth and near-field communications (NFC), and remains open to change as technologies evolve.

Plans for the payments and loyalty scheme were first revealed one year ago by iTnews, and kicked off in earnest with a pilot of 200 customers and 10 merchants.

The bank’s telecommunications subsidiary Community Telco Australia initiated closed trials of its self-built Redy service in two regions of Victoria in the latter half of last year.

The service is available from today to shoppers and businesses in Melbourne, Adelaide, Bendigo, Geelong, South West Queensland, Tasmania, and Victoria’s Yarra Ranges. 

Bendigo Bank said it would encourage more users and traders to join the platform in the coming months as it builds a national Redy network. 

The bank's IT team plans to continue adding functions to the service over the coming months, including deeper analytics for merchants, person-to-person payments and gift cards.

Bendigo Bank announced the collaboration with Samsung two weeks ago. Under the agreement, the bank is given early access to Samsung technology and IP, and Bendigo will assist Samsung with testing new products and services. Project teams will be formed to share expertise across both organisations.