Tyro Payments, a long established fintech, outlined impressive recent growth numbers across key business lines yesterday.
Kerry Roxburgh, chair of the board, set the tone early at the company's annual meeting yesterday, describing the financial year passed as "an exciting 12 months here at Tyro, with many milestones achieved, considerable investment made and new initiatives put in motion".
Robbie Cooke, the former Tatts Group chief executive who took over as CEO early this year, got to brag about metrics for the September 2018 quarter.
In its payments operation - where Tyro is a rare competitor to major banks on the merchant side of payment processing, customer numbers were 24,834 at the end of the quarter, up 27 per cent from the position at the end of September last year.
With a little more than two per cent of the merchant market, Tyro is fifth in a market segment where few have dared to disrupt the market and only they have made any headway.
Once known as MoneySwitch and founded in 2003, Tyro Payments was the first fintech on Banking Day's radar.
The design of the bulky, boxy and distinctive Eftpos terminals that Tyro rolled out more than ten years ago still yields little to the fact that consumers need to be prodded to tap their card on the left wall of the device.
This handicap is no barrier to their takeup by merchants even now. Once found in only the most progressive shops and a narrow range of industry sectors, Tyro terminals are now more than common, in Banking Day's experience.
Thus Cooke could inform the meeting that "he value of transactions processed on our platform grew 31 per cent, with A$3.9 billion in credit and debit card transactions processed in the 3 months to 30 September 2018.
"Our revenue for the three months to September was up 29 per cent to $42.1 million," he said.
Loan originations in the first quarter were up 67 per cent on the prior corresponding period, with a $8.4 million in loans originated in the period, making it still a very small component of the Tyro business.
Cooke said deposit balances at the end of the quarter were $16.3 million, up more than 200 per cent.
In a nod to all the noise around neobanks - few of whom are anywhere near securing the all clear from APRA - Cooke pointed out "we have a full, unrestricted, banking licence, but unlike others we intend to stay niche, nimble and focused on designing products specific to our SME customers' wants, and to deliver these services in the right way."
One ally in this cause will be former Telstra CEO David Thodey, who will join the board later this year.