Payment processor Smartpay is working on a plan to become an acquirer in the Australian payment market, which would allow it to handle merchant point of sale payments without the involvement of a merchant acquiring bank.Since January 1, institutions other than authorised deposit-taking institutions have been eligible to join the Visa and MasterCard schemes and become more deeply involved in payments.The company's strategy is to "participate in the transaction flow" that its payment terminals generate and "remove its reliance on bank acquirers."Smartpay released its results for the six months to September yesterday, reporting a 16 per cent fall in revenue, compared with the previous corresponding period, and a 90 per cent fall in net profit.Net profit fell from A$1.5 million to $100,000.The fall was due to a move the company made last December, when a wholesale taxi payment terminal agreement ended and Smartpay announced it would compete in the Australian taxi payments market directly.The company said that since then it has deployed 1500 terminals and is earning revenue from transactions going through those terminals. It is confident the business will grow.The company earns the bulk of its revenue in New Zealand, bringing in $9.1 million for the six months to September in New Zealand, compared with $856,000 in Australia.Smartpay is the biggest supplier of terminals connected to New Zealand's Paymark switch.The company said that in New Zealand it was looking to increase revenue by adding new card issuers to its system. Recent additions include Epay, China Unionpay and American Express.