Why U.S. Bancorp is investing in the static point of sale
American Banker U.S. Bancorp's Elavon unit is adding payment terminal technology as it supports softPOS.
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Turning smartphones into payment terminals is now as easy as downloading an app, but U.S. Bancorp is betting there's still a sizable interest in terminals that both take payments and help with business management tasks.
The bank's payment processing unit Elavon has added several features to its talech point of sale system, called talech Terminal, to enable small businesses to accept payments and manage other parts of their business while minimizing IT work and expense.
At the same time, smartphone-only payment systems called softPOS, or Tap to Pay, are expanding rapidly because they forgo any extra hardware investment. Both Apple and Android offer versions of softPOS, but require partners in the payments industry to connect to merchants and process transactions. Elevon supports softPOS, but said it's not always the best option.
"While we think there is a place for a softPOS system, there are times when a dedicated device is the preferred payments solution," said Joy Ghanekar, head of product at talech.
