Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) has teamed up with Coles Myer Ltd (CML) stores for the direct clearing of ANZ Visa credit card transactions.
Under the terms of the agreement, ANZ Visa credit card transactions made in more than 1,100 Coles Myer stores will be processed directly through the ANZ rather than via an intermediary financial institution as in the past. Approximately $1.2 billion of ANZ Visa card transactions are conducted in CML stores annually and the partnership is believed to be one of the first direct clearing arrangements in Australia.
CML chief executive officer, Dennis Eck, says the clearing agreement was possible because of the company’s electronic transaction switch which processes in excess of $13.5 billion annually. "The switch, which is unique among Australian retailers, provides CML with a central means to directly communicate and securely transact with all different banks and financial institutions," he says.
The switch facilitates customer services including debit, credit, charge and store cards (Myer, Kmart and Target cards) and cash out.
The agreement follows Coles Myer's recent membership of the Australian Payments Clearing Association last year.This makes it the only retailer to be granted membership, says John Schmoll, CML chief financial officer.