Eftpos upgrade deadline looms

Photo / Dean Purcell

Thousands of eftpos terminals across the country are yet to be upgraded, despite repeated warnings from their provider about the need to do so by June 1.

Latest figures show 4500 terminals have not been upgraded and will be disconnected from the network if they don't meet next week's deadline.

The upgrades are required to meet new global security standards in time for the Rugby World Cup, which is expected to deliver a $1.25 billion tourism boost for this country, and as concerns mount about card fraud in New Zealand.

Paymark chief executive, Simon Tong said while the numbers who had switched over was pleasing - about 97 per cent of transactions through Paymark's network will be processed by compliant terminals - the remaining merchants were a concern as they had ignored a "multitude of warnings".

"The last thing we want to do is deactivate merchants from our network - we have been communicating with businesses for the past 18 months and our aim is to ensure that beyond June, everyone is able to operate as normal.

"As a last measure, we are telephoning each of the affected merchants. These calls will be the final communication and our intention is to assist as many as possible with their upgrade scheduling plans," he said.

Christchurch merchants whose businesses were affected by the 22 February earthquake are being offered an extension to their upgrade cut-off date.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE