Square,which is owned by Afterpay’s owner Block,is also eyeing similar customer groups through its own technology that also allows customers to accept in-person payments on their phone.

Square’s head of industry operations,and operations in Australia,Marco Lamantia,said retail staff could roam shop floors and take payments on phones,or the technology could be used by business operators who needed to move around to meet customers.

“You could be a mechanic or a locksmith,you could have a physical location but you may also need to go out into the field and meet your customers,” he said.

In the United States,Apple also allows businesses to accept payments on iPhones – though the tech giant hasn’t rolled out the feature in Australia yet.

The push from offshore fintechs comes after a surge in the number of consumer payments made using phones. The Reserve Bank’s latest consumer payment survey from 2022 found about a third of consumers had used a digital device to make a payment,up from 10 per cent in 2019.

Given Australian consumers and businesses have a reputation for being open to new technology,fintechs such as Square and Stripe view the country as a key opportunity.

Australia is Square’s second-largest market outside the US,though it does not disclose its customer numbers here. Stripe’s Clayville said Australia was “just a great market”:it had seen 20 per cent year-on-year growth in big companies signing up to the platform,and 30,000 Australian-based merchants using its platform for cross-border payments.

Domestic banks,meanwhile,are fighting back to maintain their dominance among smaller firms. NAB and Westpac have announced payments can be made via Android,while CBA offers a dongle that can connect to a phone,allowing payments to be accepted on the go.

ANZ Bank says it plans to launch a solution later this year – as part of its joint venture with French payments giant Worldline – that will turn Android devices into payment terminals.

Bankers view payments technology as a key way of competing in the small business market,which is lucrative for banks because of the higher margins charged on loans.

Payments data can also be used to facilitate quick loan approvals. NAB last week launched a new business cashflow lending product that is only available to clients that have a NAB eftpos terminal or have online payments processed by the bank. It charges fees instead of interest and makes shorter-term unsecured loans of up to $125,000.

NAB group executive Andrew Irvine said a large amount of lending to Australian businesses was secured by housing,which was “a little old-fashioned frankly”,and he predicted strong interest in the new product. “We think it’s really tapping into an unmet need,” Irvine said.

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories,exclusive coverage and expert opinion.Sign up to get it every weekday morning.