News
GFG launches card services in OZ
1 August 2005 / Computerworld - by Randall Jackson
New Zealand-owned payment systems vendor GFG Group has launched an outsourced credit and debit card system into Australia.
The initial customer is CIT group (Australia) a subsidiary of global leasing & finance giant CIT Group.
GFG chairman Ralph Green says, the new service, called GFG Utility, has been launched in partnership with Fijitsu, which will provide the secure, high-bandwidth infrastructure on which GFG’s GFG:UniCARD software will run.
GFG:UniCARD is an established credit and debit card issuing and acquiring system with more than 50 customers in 40 countries. New Zealand customers include ASB bank.
Green says the company is building up its business thrust in Australia as a primary market.
“Second and third-tier financial institutions are looking for solutions but the ’giants’ look slightly down their noses at these smaller organisations. Existing card services in Australia are slow, unwieldy, inflexible and priced beyond a large market,” he says.
CIT has a strong presence in Asia and Green says there is an expectation GFG will be asked to roll out its system in multiple places.
GFG has branches in Singapore and the Philippines.
The outsourced Australian service will be housed in Sydney. “We expect to announce several more deals in Australia within the next few months,” Green says.
The company is currently in hiring mode in Australia, it now has more than 50 staff, says Green, doubled it’s revenue in the financial year to March 31.
GFG has also provided its mobile payments to Vodafone in New Zealand. Green says Vodafone is interested in rolling the product out in other places.
Europe is a candidate because the Simpay mobile marketing initiative there recently folded and the major operators are looking for a replacement.
