flycke-prepares-to-take-on-bpay

flycke prepares to take on bpay



A new payments start-up using the billing system of theCentricom-owned POLi is preparing to take on BPAY.
Flycke general manager Anthony Johnston told Online Banking Review the group will launch “in the next couple of weeks” and is currently in talks will small and large billers from the Government and private sector.
“The top end like that we are substantially cheaper and the bottom end like the fact that we don’t care about volumes and there are no contracts to sign.”
The move comes as the Reserve Bank continues to put pressure on the Australian payments industry to provide alternatives that can successfully compete with the major card schemes.
The industry has begun the development of an Eftpos scheme in response to this pressure, however at its May meeting the RBA Payment Systems Board said much remained to be achieved before the Board could be comfortable that the system is a viable and competitive alternative to the international schemes.
The Payment System Board is due to meet again to discuss interchange regulation on August 21.
In the interim the Australian Payments Clearing Association has issued a discussion paper arguing the Australian consumer online payments marketplace is already competitive.
Johnston says the Australian market is wide open for the introduction of payments and billing alternatives.
Last month the drive for new payment schemes currently underway in Europe migrated to Australia with Dominique Buysschaert, head of start-up scheme PayFair, visiting Australia to talk to retailers and banks. “The European situation gave us the opportunity to start something, but as a payments scheme we have a global ambition” says Buysschaert.
Although PayFair is primarily a debit driven scheme, PayFair also has ambition in the area of online payments. We’ve got more on this in the Aug/Sep edition of Online Banking Review, out Friday.