Novatti Group (ASX:NOV) discusses growth opportunities in the payments sector

Novatti Group Limited (ASX:NOV) CEO Peter Cook talks about the growing demand for digital payments and the opportunities this presents for the company.

Melissa Darmawan: Hello. Melissa Darmawan for the Finance News Network. Joining me from Novatti Group (ASX:NOV) is CEO Peter Cook. Peter, nice to see you again.

Peter Cook: Melissa, hello.

Melissa Darmawan: Hi. We are seeing a rapid rise of fintech companies in the payments area, with the likes of Square and Alipay becoming major players. Can you give us an insight into how fintech companies are being a disruptor in this space?

Peter Cook: Melissa, we're seeing that there's massive digital transformation in all industries, but in particular in financial services. And, actually, that whole thematic has been further enhanced by COVID, where the need to convert from cash-based payments to cashless is really being exacerbated. So, whether it be a consumer in a store doing a tap-and-go, or a business that wants to get its invoices paid faster and by a more automated means, we're just seeing this whole drive towards cashless-to-cash payments, further digitisation. And I think that fintechs can absolutely be leaders and even potentially dominate because they have the knowledge of technology, they can access licences with the correct compliance work, and they can be nimble and drive new outcomes. And so I think, for existing financial services players, whether it be big banks or insurance companies or other financial services institutions, that they will generally embrace these new fintechs and work with them to drive new services.

Melissa Darmawan: How do you see this growth developing?

Peter Cook: We're seeing that the growth is going to come from many parts of consumers' and businesses' lives or operations as they seek to embrace digitisation and essentially to improve either the consumer's personal life, make things faster or more expedient, or even a safer transaction. And, for businesses, we're really seeing an extreme drive towards automation and more productivity. And going back to COVID, COVID has really driven a lot of this behaviour. For businesses, it's brought to mind for the leaders and owners of businesses that removing some of the impediments to providing services or being paid is just a critical part to their business thriving. And, I mean, a simple thing affecting all of us, the growth of e-commerce. And so the ability to pay online and take payments is just critical.

Melissa Darmawan: What does this all mean for Novatti?

Peter Cook: So, Novatti and in particular a listed company, should really be able to take advantage and bring revenues through from this new behaviour and new demand for services. So, a lot of the work we've been doing for the last few years has been about building infrastructure. What we call infrastructure will be licences, technology, commercial partnerships. And, as an example, some of the commercial partnerships we've been showing — Alipay, WeChat Pay, Visa, Marqeta in the US, a range of banks, both in Australia and overseas. So, essentially, all of that work, we can bring together and start to monetise as we deliver services that consumers and businesses want. So, the growth for us is great, the growth in cash to cashless, and we're absolutely positioned to take advantage of it.

Melissa Darmawan: Last question, Peter. What's your focus for the year ahead?

Peter Cook: The focus for Novatti is to continue to grow our ecosystem. And, hopefully, our investors will see that we bring on more partnerships, more fintech and business-type customers that are using our network. And, in fact, furthering the ecosystem. And, at a financial level, the growth in our partners and our customers on our network, the growth in this ecosystem, will start to bring network effects and the monetization, where we're increasingly getting deeper margins, greater share of wallet, much stronger growth in revenues and financial performance.

Melissa Darmawan: Peter Cook, nice to see you again. Thank you for the update.

Peter Cook: Melissa, thank you.

Source: Finance News Network