GFG targets small banks in new credit-card venture

Credit card software provider GFG Group is building its own bureau to handle card transactions on an outsource basis.

Chief executive Anthony Howard said that in its first such venture, the Auckland company would provide and manage the application and Fujitsu Australia would provide the hosting infrastructure.

"Fujitsu will provide the technology, and we brought a new client to it," Howard said.

The system goes live at the end of August.

Howard said the target market was small banks and financial institutions that wanted to avoid the cost of having their own card-processing infrastructure.

Companies such as large retail chains that were taking advantage of banking deregulation and issuing their own cards were also targeted.

GFG's main product is Unicard, a card-processing solution originally built for Unisys.

GFG bought back the intellectual property in Unicard last year, and raised $3 million in new capital from Venture Investment Fund managers Endeavour Capital and TMT Ventures to pay for product development and to establish a sales and services organisation.

GFG also announced a profit for the year ended March 31.

Revenue increased 68 per cent to $8.4 million, a trend Howard expects to continue this year.

As well as redeveloping Unicard, GFG has extended FinSim, a tool to speed up development of ATMM networks and point-of-sale applications, and GFG Mobile, a system that allows cellphones to be used to make payments.

GFG Mobile is the basis of Vodafone's Hotlink service and is also used by Philippines mobile phone company Smart Communications, with more than 16 million customers.

Howard said a lot of the company's future growth would come from Australia and Southeast Asia.

GFG has opened an office in Singapore, appointing banking software veteran Peter Goldfinch, who built some of the first ATM and Eftpos networks, as its Southeast Asia general manager.

www.gfg-group.com