Auckland company Direct Payment Solutions has won approval to connect its payment engine to the national Eftpos network for on-line credit card authorisation and internet retailing.
The DPS approval means Glazier Systems, which got approval last June for its ePAS system, now has competition on the ETSL network ownedby the major trading banks.
Local test site Freedom International has been live since November with the company's Direct Payment Server for phone authorisation of airline bookings and reservations. The ANZ Bank has also taken the solution on board.
DPS is the local software development arm of global electronic payments provider Ingenico (www.ingenico.fr), based in France. It has licensed its engine to Ingenico in Australia.
The payment server was approved last October in Australia, finally enabling customers on both sides of the Tasman to accept credit cards and settle in their respective currencies. It takes Visa, American Express, Diners, and MasterCard.
DPS is in discussion with First Ecom (firstecom.com) in Hong Kong which may soon provide services to clear US and other foreign transactions in New Zealand dollars.
"We are looking at becoming a New Zealand portal so currency can be settled both ways," said DPS managing director Andy Cullen.
The company believes e-commerce is still in its early stages and will, for the moment, stick with helping to transform traditional mail order, telemarketing and call centres which accept credit cards, often not processed for 48 hours.
The package can also link voice response technology - an option taken up by Voice Technology which has integrated DPS with its interactive voice recognition system for use by call centres.
Retailers seeking phone authorisation can simply ring a voice recognition system rather than waiting while card details are keyed into a traditional terminal. Initially, the product is available from resellers including Fujitsu and Walker Datavision.
