Australian Payments Plus (AP+), the entity bringing together Australia’s three domestic payment providers, BPAY Group, eftpos and NPP Australia, is partnering up with global paytech Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), in a move to reduce the cost of accepting payments.
Together, Australian Payments Plus and G+D plan to develop eftpos Click to Pay with integrated least-cost routing (LCR). Click to Pay is an online checkout experience that enables consumers to make fast, convenient and secure purchases without manually entering card details.
eftpos Click to Pay also gives merchants the benefit of automated routing to the most cost-effective payment network through LCR, helping to lower the cost of accepting payments.
“Click to Pay with eftpos combines the seamless, secure online checkout experience customers expect with the added benefit of least-cost routing – helping put downward pressure on the cost of accepting payments,” explained Adrian Lovney, chief payments and schemes officer at AP+.
Click to Pay with eftpos transactions are processed using tokenisation, which replaces real card details (like card numbers) with a digital token. This token can be used for transactions, but is useless if stolen, protecting sensitive card data.
Payments routed over the eftpos network leverage AP+’s domestic payments infrastructure, to ensure that Australian data is processed in line with domestic security and privacy standards. The solution, which is currently being piloted, is set to start rolling out from early 2026.
“Through our partnership with G+D, we’re bringing world-class security and innovation to a uniquely local solution that supports the broader payments ecosystem,” added Lovney.
Nationwide benefits
Most debit cards in Australia are dual-network cards, which allow payments to be processed either via the domestic eftpos network or an international card network, each with different cost implications. When LCR is supported, the merchant can choose to automatically route the payment to the lowest-cost network.
While LCR is widely enabled for in-store payments (70 per cent) and increasingly for mobile wallets (30 per cent), online guest checkout payments have historically lacked this functionality.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has consistently supported the broader availability of LCR as a way to promote competition and reduce payment costs for merchants. In a 2024 report, the RBA also found that the cost of accepting debit card transactions is nearly 20 per cent lower for merchants that have LCR turned on compared with those with LCR turned off.
Extending LCR to online guest checkout through Click to Pay aligns with this objective, bringing more choice and control into the digital payments environment.
“Enabling least-cost routing in the online Click to Pay experience is an important evolution in how businesses in Australia can manage the cost of accepting payments,” said Lovney. “It also aligns with the RBA’s policy direction, with our own commitment to lowering the cost of payments, supports greater competition in card payments, and delivers more options for merchants.”
