Quest Payments Services CEO Jan Mason
In a vindication of one of the most patient disruption plays in domestic payments, Quest Payments has won a whole of government contract to supply payments devices and related support services across the New South Wales government.
The contract is for 5 years and allows Quest to deliver its payment solutions to all NSW Government agencies.
Major banks, primarily Westpac, have lost out in this tender.
Established 30 years ago in Melbourne, Quest - which designs payments terminals and associated support software (with manufacturing outsourced to China) - may be edging towards the commanding heights in Australia’s payments landscape.
Quest has a payments hardware fleet in this country that already numbers in the vicinity of 100,000 devices, Jan Mason CEO of Quest Payment Systems told Banking Day. This is around one seventh of the national Eftpos fleet, if APRA’s most recent estimate late last year on ‘points of presence’ for Eftpos terminals is reliable.
Quest’s key competitors in the device market are the likes of Verifone and Ingenico.
From here, Quest must now engage with NSW departments and agencies to ascertain their needs and begin to rollout solutions.
Quest will initially focus on the Development of Education and the Department of Health and Service NSW, Mason said yesterday. There are more than 2200 government schools and more than 220 hospitals, and around 120 Service NSW centres.
The company has held a contract with Service NSW for some years.
Quest’s success in a supremely competitive tender is a bit of landmark, and even an inspiration for the conga line of fintechs scheming up halfway credible pitches for an even more valuable NSW whole of government banking and payments tender, covering payments processing especially.
Late last month the Treasury in New South Wales made it clear fintechs and non-banks are welcome to participate in the upcoming tender for whole of government banking and payments services.
“This is a big win for Australian technology firms like Quest and it was made possible through the NSW government’s unique and innovative financial services competition policies, that enable proven Australian tech players like Quest to bid for business in our area of expertise” Mason said.
On the other hand, with decades of endeavour and experience behind it - and contracts with the likes of NAB, Aldi, BP, Australia Post and Coles (the last two for middleware) - Quest does not remotely resemble a modern day fintech.