Westpac to profit billions over the Christmas period while it closes accounts for $200 Bitcoin purchases.
While the Daily Telegraph publishes that Christmas spending is likely to hit $50 Billion, a mother of four who used POLI Payments to buy $200 worth of Bitcoin has had her Westpac account suspended. (link 1) Poli is payment system used for eCommerce and was acquired by SecurePay Holdings, a fully owned subsidiary of Australia Post and a popular eCommerce payments gateway.
The young mother (who wishes to remain anonymous) decided to make an online purchase of Bitcoin via the popular Australian cryptocurrency exchange Coinspot. Coinspot is the number one Australian exchange offering a means to buy Bitcoin and a myriad of other cryptocurrencies. After the transaction, the woman’s Westpac account was suspended just days before Christmas.
During a POLI transaction you are using the SecurePay payment gateway system (rather than Westpac’s online banking system) to enter your online banking usernames and passwords to make payments. Westpac had responded that the account will only be reinstated after five working days. Their position was based on the fact that such payments are a breach of online banking terms and conditions.
What might come as a surprise is that SecurePay is a well trusted payment gateway system offering its services to more than 100,000 merchants including Westpac. Westpac on its own website supports SecurePay as a third party payment gateway alongside other merchants including PayPal and eWay.
Australian banks are set to profit from these payment gateways as our online sales are predicted to exceed $32 billion by the end of 2017, putting us in the top ten (link 3) eCommerce markets worldwide. SecurePay is known as a trusted online payment gateway and states publicly “With SecurePay Online Payments, your customers can pay how they want. You can accept payments from all major cards and we’re also integrated with PayPal. If your customers don’t wish to pay by card, we also offer internet payment options via POLi, which facilitates a ‘Pay Anyone’ internet banking payment”.
What should be in question is to why customers are penalised for using the SecurePay gateway for a $200 purchase, while Westpac profits in the Billions from the same system? The mother of four was unfortunately looking down the barrel at a Christmas without the means to make it magical. After hours in a branch and on the phone to the Westpac fraud department, her account was reinstated however her access to online banking is still suspended indefinitely.
This story arises amid the collective group of Australian Banks cracking down on customers using their accounts to purchase cryptocurrency. Coinspot, after further pressure from banks, has put a hold on any deposits making the purchase of Bitcoin through their exchange virtually impossible for those creating a new account.
Links:
1: https://www.facebook.com/Westpac/posts/10156099746412743
2: https://www.westpac.com.au/business-banking/merchant-services/online-payments/third-party-payment/?searchsource=search-results&kw=securepay&cat=other&rank=1&result-type=natural
3: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/1947/at-kearney-top-20-ecommerce-markets-of-the-globe
