Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank as well as supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths and fintechs Azupay, Beem It and Merchant Warrior have confirmed they will support the rollout of the national QR payments and rewards platform developed by Australia’s Eftpos payments system.

The platform — now known as eQR — enables consumers to make digital wallet payments and receive rewards at physical points of sale as well as for ecommerce and mobile transactions and Eftpos says that support from “some of the nation’s iconic banks, retailers and fintechs” will enable it to roll out the platform “as a new consumer payment option before Christmas”.

Eftpos revealed plans to launch the platform in February, “completed the first stage of the eQR build in July and is currently in trial with several Australian merchants”.

“We expect eQR will quickly become the QR equivalent of Eftpos Tap & Pay on debit cards,” CEO Stephen Benton says. 

“Covid has changed customer behaviour and Australians are now ready for the enhanced payment experience offered by eQR.

“The eQR platform aims to provide better experiences for consumers and merchants through added security, loyalty, offers and digital receipts, no matter where they choose to shop — online, on their mobile or at the checkout.”

The Australian government accredited Eftpos as the country’s first private sector digital identity exchange operator in September. 

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