NPP Australia’s booming transaction volumes were not enough to boost the bottom line performance of the business in the 12 months to the end of June 2020.
The national real time payments provider suffered a 27 per cent decline in bottom line earnings to A$4 million, according to annual accounts lodged with ASIC.
The NPP processed an average of 1.1 million daily payments in 2020 that were worth $413.8 billion.
While the value of payments going through the platform increased threefold on 2019 volume, it did not deliver a material surge in sales revenue.
NPP Australia reported revenue of $43.8 million – up only 2.3 per cent.
“We started the financial year reaffirming our commitment to operate the NPP in the public’s interest in our response to the RBA’s Conclusions Paper into NPP Access and Functionality, which was well received,” chief executive Adrian Lovney told his bank shareholders in the annual report.
“At the same time, we introduced a mandatory compliance framework, which has given the confidence we need as an industry to see the NPP grow further.”
While fintech advocates and the Productivity Commission remain concerned about the access regime for non-banks, Lovney highlighted the entry of new overlay providers to the service.
“This year we saw more innovators like Azupay, Monoova and Split Payments join a growing pool of fintechs leveraging the NPP’s capabilities,” he said.
“The value of PayID has been especially evident within the small business community during the COVID-19 pandemic, with businesses like cafes, hairdressers and food delivery services offering PayID as an alternative to cash for their ‘on demand’ services.”
Chairman Bob McKinnon told shareholders that the push for digital payments from consumers and businesses reinforced the role of the NPP in enabling Australia’s digital economy.
“But there is no need to ‘pivot’ or change our plans in the face of these unprecedented times,” he said in his report.
“Rather, we must simply double down on efforts to grow and evolve the NPP and its capabilities.”
In their individual reports neither McKinnon nor Lovney addressed the rationale for seeking to merge the NPP with Eftpos Australia and BPay.