Square's move into Australia has gotten off to a rocky start, with Commonwealth Bank only agreeing to lift a security-related block on the mPOS service after an intervention from Visa and MasterCard.
When Square brought its mPOS service to Australia earlier this month, the security of its card reader was brought into question. Although the device, designed for the US market, accepts chip cards it does not have an inbuilt PIN pad.
The country's biggest bank, CBA, has told the Australian newspaper that it has only lifted a block on payments made through the reader on the request of card schemes, including Visa, which has a substantial stake in Square.
"We have temporarily lifted the block on the pin-on-mobile transaction for a limited period at the request of the card schemes and we will continue to protect our cardholders," a bank spokeswoman told the paper.
However, she added: "In the event our security concerns are not fully resolved by the card schemes we will reapply the block."
The reader is not on the Australian Payments Clearing Association's list of approved devices but Square has defended its security and Visa says it is working with banks to resolve any concerns.