Sydney, 23 July 2013: Mint Wireless Limited (ASX: MNW) (“Mint” or “The Company”) is pleased to advise that it has completed all the relevant bank and card scheme certifications as required for the Australian market for Mint’s innovative mobile payment solution with Strategic Payments Services (“SPS”) and Bendigo Bank (“Bendigo”).
This is an important milestone for the Australian payments market, as Mint is now able to offer secure, certified and compliant end-to-end payment solution that enables payments to be taken on the go, anywhere, anytime using ALL card types (credit, debit and eftpos) issued in Australia.
Mint’s end-to-end mobile payment solution includes Mint’s secure mobile payment application (“app”) which works on a mobile device as well as a fully compliant, certified “Chip and PIN” card reader that communicates securely to Mint’s wholly-owned and operated bank-grade payment switch. Every transaction from Mint’s mobile payment application is routed from the app to Mint’s payment switch to SPS Payment Gateway, for switching and authorisation, who then sends the transactions for financial settlement to Bendigo Bank as the chosen bank acquirer for the solution.
Alex Teoh, Mint’s CEO commented:
“Mint listened to what Australian merchants are looking for in a mobile payment solution, the ability to process ALL card types, including credit, debit and eftpos cards, at competitive merchant fee rates. Merchants are also looking for a payment solution that utilizes a mobile phone, as opposed to the traditional EFTPOS terminals. Bendigo Bank and SPS has been great strategic partners for Mint, who has really embraced the need to bring innovation to a growing number of mobile businesses in Australia.”
“By partnering with Bendigo Bank and completing scheme certification, Mint is the first non-Bank player to provide a competitively priced mobile payment solution for all card types, which significantly differentiates our solution from others currently available in Australia.”
Michael O’Shea, Head of Access and Payment Systems at Bendigo commented:
“We agreed to work with and certify the Mint mobile payment solution because we saw that Mint and the Bank share the same vision of providing innovative, meaningful and useful solutions and products to the business community.”
Mint worked very closely with SPS and Bendigo to achieve Switch Interchange and Scheme certification. As such, Mint has entered into a wholesale services agreement with Bendigo Bank where Mint can now provide competitive merchant services direct to merchants via the Mint mobile payment solution. As Bendigo’s wholesale partner, Mint will be able to set retail merchant service fee rates and earn a recurring margin from merchant fees for every card transaction originated from the Mint mobile payment solution.
Simon Stephenson, Managing Director, Strategic Payment Services commented:
“SPS Payments Hub makes it simple, secure and cost efficient for MPOS vendors like Mint to integrate next generation merchant POS solutions to a real time payment gateway to process all types of m-commerce payments. We are delighted to have worked in partnership with Mint and Bendigo to deliver an innovative mobile payment solution to the Australian market.”
Mint has worked with SPS and Bendigo Bank to successfully complete the following bank and payment industry certifications:
- Switch Interchange Certification between Mint Wireless and SPS/Bendigo Bank, confirming credit card and eftpos transactions are correctly formatted and comply with all relevant standards required for Australian processing.
- Formal device / terminal certification from Visa and MasterCard (ADVT and MTIP), enabling both Visa and MasterCard EMV transactions to be processed in accordance with Visa and MasterCard’s strict requirements.
About Mint Wireless Limited:
Mint Wireless Limited is a global mobile payments and transactions processing company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: MNW). Mint Wireless has a mobile payments technology platform that enables corporate enterprises to accept credit and debit card payments on various mobile phones, tablets and mobile devices. The Company has invested and built bank grade payments technology and infrastructure that has allowed it to become a multi-channel and multi-national payments organisation. Mint Wireless is headquartered in Sydney, Australia with offices and operations in London and Singapore. Mint Wireless has won many hardware and software awards including Microsoft and IBM’s Consensus Awards in 2008. In 2009, Mint Wireless was recognised as one of Australia’s best performing small-to-medium companies, ranking 4th in the BRW Fast 100 awards, and ranking 5th in the SmartCompany.com.au Smart 50 awards.
About Bendigo Bank:
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank aims to be Australia’s leading customer connected banking group, and goes by the philosophy that successful costumers and communities lead to a successful bank. The Group was formed in November 2007 as a result of the merger between Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank. A publicly listed company, the group is owned by more than 82,000 shareholders.The group’s retail arm, Bendigo Bank, provides banking and wealth management services to individuals and small to medium businesses. Bendigo Bank is represented in all states and territories with almost 900 outlets, including more than 190 company-owned branches, almost 300 locally-owned Community Bank® branches, 90 agencies and 1900 ATMs. Bendigo Bank continues its tradition of adding value for customers through quality personal service and a philosophy of giving back to those communities in which it operates.
About Strategic Payments Services:
Strategic Payments Services Pty Ltd (SPS) is one of Australia’s leading independent transaction processing companies. SPS Payment Hub provides real –time, multi -channel card and payment processing services for acquirers, issuer, merchants and corporate enterprises. SPS processes over 50 million transactions a month, drives over 28,000 POS and 5,000 ATM terminals and manages over 2.2million cards. SPS headquarters and operations are located in Sydney Australia. SPS is a joint venture with MasterCard Australia (52.5%) and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank ( 47.5%).
