New Zealand's Six Billionth Transaction Man

New Zealand's Six Billionth Transaction Man

A humble proprietor at the Knuckle Sandwich café in Takapuna, Auckland, has made history by processing the six billionth payment for NZ company Paymark, arguably the world’s most advanced EFTPOS network.

Simon Tong, Chief Executive Officer, Paymark, says the milestone reflects the phenomenal volume of electronic payments taking place each day around the country. Paymark handles around three quarters of all EFTPOS payment transactions in New Zealand.

“We’ve monitored trends in consumer spending since our formation in 1989 and have always known that Kiwis are early adopters of technology, electronic payments being no exception. Nearly 90% of Kiwis have a debit card and that puts us ahead of any other country in the world in terms of EFTPOS use,” he says.

“Our service is based on safe, secure and reliable processing of electronic payments and it’s for those very reasons that cash and cheques are increasingly becoming a thing of the past,” he adds.

Steven Hy, the Knuckle Sandwich owner and an EFTPOS merchant for two years, says he was surprised and delighted when informed of the important part he had played in helping Paymark, and New Zealand, reach its new milestone.

“EFTPOS is easily the preferred form of payment for my customers and Paymark have made that switch in consumer spending habits happen – they’re much more inclined to pay for a sandwich or a coffee by EFTPOS than with cash.

At the Knuckle Sandwich in Takapuna and my other outlet in Queen Street EFTPOS is an invaluable part of my business,” he says.
Just like at the Knuckle Sandwich, approximately 60% of all retail transactions in New Zealand now take place electronically, so clearly EFTPOS has cemented its place as the most preferred way for New Zealanders to pay for goods and services.

In addition, the average value of EFTPOS transactions has decreased over the years, illustrating a willingness to use cards for day-to-day spending. And according to Simon Tong, Paymark expects the number of electronic payments to rise even further.

“We know from our data that New Zealanders are using EFTPOS more often and online shopping is also becoming increasingly popular, as are mobile payments. Our role is to provide the safe, solid infrastructure that enables these services to flourish and we will continue to invest to ensure New Zealand has world class electronic payment options,” he says.
Key New Zealand electronic transaction statistics:

- Average number of transactions per day 2 million
- Average number of transactions per second 70
- Peak number of transactions 3,262,903 on December 22nd 2006
- Average time for transactions to be processed 0.05 seconds
- Amount of time to reach first billion transactions 9 years

ENDS

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