Heritage Bank leads market in emerging card technologies
THINK technology innovation only happens in hotspots like San Francisco’s Silicon Valley?
Then think again — Heritage Bank is quickly winning recognition as an Australian leader in a fast-moving area of the payments sector from right here in Toowoomba.
Heritage has developed unrivalled expertise in the area of cards and virtual payment technologies, now partnering with some of Australia’s most iconic companies to develop payment solutions for their products.
In fact, Heritage Bank is now the largest issuer of pre-paid cards in Australia, and in particular issues around half the travel cards in the country.
Companies including Qantas, Optus, Australia Post and MasterCard have chosen to work with Heritage Bank to deliver a range of products that use pre-paid card and virtual payment technologies.
This includes the ability to load money onto a Qantas Frequent Flyer card using the Qantas Cash facility or a smartphone to pay for small purchases via the Cash by Optus app.
You can also load money and use it wherever you go via the Australia Post Load&Go card or use the MasterCard Multi-Currency Cash Passport card.
Heritage has its own Mobile Pay service that provides customers with later model Android phones the ability to make in-store payments using their phones.
More recently, Heritage has carried out a customer trial of a new wearable payment band, which enables people to pay for goods with a swipe of their wrists.
The unique thing about Heritage’s payment band is that it links directly to a person’s bank account.
Other wearable payment devices requires users to load money onto a pre-paid card, and keep topping it up if they want to keep using it.
Because Heritage’s device links straight to your bank account, you can keep using the device to make payments as much as you like, as long as there is money in your account.
In the technology space, Heritage has also just added a further 43 ATMs to its fleet, located at Freedom Fuel service stations across south-east Queensland.
This adds another option for people looking to obtain cash via a card withdrawal.
Heritage CEO Peter Lock said the cards and payments sector of the market was seeing really interesting developments and Heritage was at the forefront of that innovation in Australia.
“For many years, the card sector was pretty basic,” Mr Lock said.
“When Bankcard first came to Australia in the 1970s, it was a simple hard plastic card with a magnetic strip, [and] gradually things started to change with a move to chips in cards, and the arrival of debit cards as well.
“Now we’re seeing the cards and payments technologies moving into new areas, like reloadable travel cards that can handle multiple foreign currencies, and virtual payment technologies embedded in phones that don’t actually use the plastic cards themselves.”
Mr Lock believes that wearable technology is also a growing area, and Heritage is helping lead the way in that area as well.
Heritage Bank also previously worked with Australian tailor M.J. Bale and global payments company Visa to create a men’s suit with a contactless payment chip and antenna built into the sleeve.
This enables the wearer to pay for goods with a simple swipe of the wrist, rather than having to carry a wallet or physical card around.
“That’s just an example of the really interesting possibilities that exist in the cards and payments world, and Heritage is helping make them a reality,” Mr Lock said.
“Being based here in Toowoomba is no barrier to us in playing a leading role in this emerging area of technology.”
❝is Being based here in Toowoomba no barrier to us in playing a leading role in this emerging area of technology. — Heritage CEO Peter Lock