Westpac to deploy new ‘next-gen’ EFTPOS terminals

Westpac Eftpos terminals

Westpac will upgrade around 100,000 terminals across its merchant network, replacing legacy EFTPOS 1 and Presto fleets with the new ‘EFTPOS Now’ smart terminals.

The “next generation” terminals will offer Westpac’s business clients a number of new features, including an instant settlement capability, tipping and refunds options, electronic fall backs and 4G to circumvent connection outages, and a range of new security features, including an option for manager passcodes to process refunds.

“Our new lightweight and portable EFTPOS Now terminal makes it easier for businesses to take payments and process them instantly at a chosen time of day to help with cash flow, said Westpac chief executive consumer and business banking, Chris de Bruin said in a statement.

“It’s our smartest device to date, offering features such as the ability to e-mail receipts on-the-spot and innovative accessibility options to assist customers with vision impairment.”

In a concerted effort to improve the accessibility of its new terminals, Westpac worked with payments technology developer Verifone to implement specific design recommendations from the Australian Payments Network’s Accessibility Guidelines, taking into account users with vision, hearing and motor impairments.

“Our new terminals provide tactile markers around the frame of the screen to assist vision impaired customers with locating the numbers to enter their PIN, a blank screen to provide added security when the PIN is entered, and audio prompts to assist transactions so customers can feel protected when they shop in-store,” de Bruin said.

Westpac is also set to introduce a raft of new customer-friendly innovations for its new EFTPOS terminals over the coming months, including a new bill splitting function, as well as the addition of tailored apps such as Verifone’s Lite Point of Sale (POS).

“This allows merchants to set up a simple sales menu on the terminal, to process regular transactions on the go, without the need for additional hardware.”

Merchants will also be able to choose from a range of pricing options for taking card payments, including a new 1.2 per cent flat rate introduced by Westpac and available across its EFTPOS network.