Auckland financial services company Centrapay is partnering with California-based Verifone to deliver a smart contactless payment platform that removes the per transaction fee businesses in New Zealand typically pay.

Centrapay and Verifone have combined multiple technologies to allow traditional and new financial applications to work together. The technology is centred on personalising the merchant and consumer payment experience.

Consumers and merchants can now in real time process contactless NZD payments and Giftstation Gift cards, accept digital assets, redeem Grab One vouchers, provide product and service feedback, offset carbon, use loyalty programmes, send or participate in surveys, and use digital identity options. And it all happens with an app and a QR code on any enabled Verifone payment device.

Leveraging Verifone’s payment APIs, applications will be deployed to retailers remotely so they can easily enable these payment options. These applications use QR codes and/or NFC to communicate with Centrapay-supported mobile wallets, such as the Sylo Smart Wallet.

This allows merchants to take payment in a range of digital assets, gift cards, loyalty points, vouchers or NZD. It also leverages existing point of sale system investments, without the need to replace hardware or carry out bespoke and costly upgrades.

“If a customer and the merchant have a Centrapay-powered QR code or application, the two can now interact and engage in richer and more meaningful ways,” said Jerome Faury, CEO of Centrapay. “Now customers can not only pay securely and easily but they can also access a range of on-device options like providing feedback on a service or product, or offsetting the carbon footprint of their purchase.”

The partnership also lets product producers or retailers offer value-added services to customers such as the ability to pay with GrabOne vouchers or Carbonclick or use Yabble to earn rewards or offset their carbon footprint.

Pete Hansen, general manager at Verifone NZ, said the company had around 50 per cent market share of payment devices deployed in New Zealand. He said it was committed to leading innovation for its merchants and focused on collaborating with companies such as Centrapay to provide more flexibility and enhanced payment experiences for merchants and consumers.