New process allows visitors to pay in own currency

A further boost to New Zealand’s already growing tourist spending has been forecast by a company introducing a system which allows visitors to pay for New Zealand goods and services in their own currency.

Thanks to a locally-patented process invented by an Irish company, EFTPOS terminals will recognize the card-holder’s home currency and offer the facility to pay that way.

The company behind the system says retailers can expect a boost to the billions of dollars tourists and other international visitors already spend, as value comparisons and payment become quicker and easier.

Tourism Ministry researchers say international visitors spent $6.4 billion or $2899 each during 2006, a 4% increase on the previous year.

Declan Barry, Asia-Pacific regional director of Irish value-added tourist payment specialist Fintrax, predicts the figure would increase further as a result of the introduction of its “dynamic currency conversion at point of sale” process in New Zealand.

The Fintrax’ ¥€$™ system is named after the symbols for yen, euros and dollars, and adds a couple of simple automated steps to normal EFTPOS transactions.

On “swiping” a credit card, tourists are presented with the value of the payment in both NZ dollars and their own currency, plus other disclosure information to make the transaction transparent. They can choose to pay either in their own currency or in NZ dollars.

If they opt to pay in their own currency, the payment is “locked in” at the figure displayed to the purchaser. This avoids exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations.

Merchants using the Fintrax process receive settlement from their bank in NZ dollars in the normal way.

Mr Barry said the Fintrax dynamic currency conversion process could only be offered by licensed banks.

“Our patents cover the entire technique for automatically determining the precise currency in which cards are denominated when they are presented to retailers,” he said.

“The only other way is a totally manual approach that unnecessarily extends the payment process for the cardholder and creates extra effort for the retailer.”

Fintrax Group Holdings was established in Ireland in 1985 and has been operated by its founding executive and senior management since then.

The group delivers value-added payment solutions and third-party transaction processing to tourists, merchants, financial institutions and government departments worldwide. The group operates locally in 20 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and North America.

The company operates its own independent multi-currency processing platform, is a registered third-party service provider to VISA and MasterCard, and is accredited to the highest standards for payment card data security, known as “PCI”.

Fintrax subsidiaries hold patents and registered trademarks in several jurisdictions covering payment services and transaction processing. These include New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Europe.

ENDS

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