Authority POS — bank compatibility

Authority is a point-of-sale system for government, built by Civica. The enterprise system behind more than 150 councils across Australia and New Zealand, and since 2024 it is owned by Blackstone.

Certified on Linkly, running on premise. Linkly reaches more acquirers than any other middleware in the market, which is why most POS start there.

The Linkly integration runs on premise.

Authority is Civica's local government platform, and it is less a point of sale than the system a council runs on. Rates and charges, planning and development, utilities and waste billing, animals, infringements, inspections, the name and address register, plus the finance, HR and payroll underneath. Civica says more than 150 councils across Australia and New Zealand use it and that it has been specialising in local government for over 30 years.

The ownership has changed hands repeatedly and most ratepayers would have no idea. Civica came out of a 1999 management buy-out from the Sanderson Group, listed on London's AIM market in 2004, was taken private by 3i in 2008 for £190 million, sold to Partners Group in 2017 at a reported £1.06 billion, and then agreed to a Blackstone takeover in November 2023 worth about US$2.5 billion. That completed in May 2024. Civica is UK-headquartered with regional offices in Australia, Singapore and North America, and says its software is used by over 5,000 public bodies serving more than 100 million citizens.

Where EFTPOS comes into it is the customer service counter — someone paying rates, a dog registration or a fine over the desk. The payment has to post back into Authority against the right property or account, which is why the integration matters more than the terminal brand.

Civica also has Altitude.