CHANGE FINANCIAL LTD (ASX:CCA) - How Change Financial Turns Payments As A Service Into Profit Artwork

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CHANGE FINANCIAL LTD (ASX:CCA) - How Change Financial Turns Payments As A Service Into Profit

September 10, 2026 • Andrew Musgrave

0:00 | 16:03

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ASX Investment Opportunity - Change Financial Ltd (ASX:CCA)

Profit doesn’t arrive overnight in fintech, especially when you’re building the core infrastructure that other brands depend on. We’re joined by Tony Sheehan, CEO of Change Financial Limited, to break down the FY26 result and the operational choices that helped tip the company into profit after years of losses. We talk through the mechanics behind the numbers: sustained revenue growth, a stable fixed cost base, and why scaling card issuing volumes can materially lift margins as the platform matures.

We also get practical about where growth really comes from. Tony explains what Change Financial delivers across card processing, card issuing and payments testing, including support for digital wallets and white-label card programs. We unpack the drivers behind rising active card counts, how new fintech wins compare with existing customers scaling, and why investors should pay attention to the six to nine month lag between signing a client and seeing meaningful live-program revenue.

Then we zoom in on PaySim, the payments testing product that’s the default EFTPOS certification standard in Australia, yet still holds a tiny share of a massive global market. Tony shares what has held sales back, why modernising the interface matters as testing teams change, how a partner distribution model supports global expansion, and where agentic AI is already improving development speed and operational efficiency. We finish with a candid lesson from exiting the US: in payments, controlling your own destiny often comes down to licensing and regulatory leverage.

If you found this useful, please subscribe, share the episode with a mate, and leave us a review so more listeners can find ASX Briefs.

Andrew Musgrave

Welcome again to ASX Briefs and joining me today is Tony Sheehan, the CEO at Change Financial Limited. Change Financial is a payments solution provider driving innovation in the Payments as a Service ecosystem. Tony, great to have you with me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.

Tony Sheehan

Thanks, Andrew. Thanks for having me.

Andrew Musgrave

Now, Tony, before we touch on the recent results, can you just give us a quick overview of the company?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, sure. So, Change Financial, we're a B2B business. So, we provide card processing, issuing, and payments testing solutions. We've got more than 150 clients in more than 40 countries. In terms of what does that actually mean in terms of the services that we provide? Card processing technology. So, we provide that technology for clients to run card programs. So, we've got over 45 million cards running on our platform. When we look at card issuing, what does that mean? So, we provide really all the capabilities to issue cards for our clients in Australia and New Zealand. We're a MasterCard principal issuer in Australia. So, we provide a white label service where we issue debit, prepaid, credit cards, and it's in digital or virtual capabilities as well. So, if you think about the plastic cards that are in your wallet, or you think about your card that's in your Apple Pay or Google Pay, we provide all the capabilities to enable the cards to be consumers' hands. We also provide payments testing as well. So, we've got a very functionally rich product that enables big clients like financial institutions, banks, big fintech’s to test their payments rails to make sure that they're in compliance with all the major schemes globally. They can do stress testing, regression testing, making sure that they can handle all the additional transactions that would flow, say, through Black Friday, through those sales to make sure that their systems are systems are up and processing. You can test your ATMs by sitting at your laptop and simulate a jam, et cetera, as well. So, they're our core products that we have and the capabilities we provide.

Andrew Musgrave

You've just announced a made in four-year profit of half a million US dollars, which is a real milestone after years of losses. What changed operationally in FY26 that finally tipped the business into profit?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, Andrew, so we've been building towards this for a number of years as well. So really getting to that profitable stage for us, as you said, a real milestone, something we're very, very proud of in the business. What's actually driven that is a combination of revenue growth and that's sustained revenue growth over the last three years. But we've also got a very stable fixed cost base. So, we've sort of kept a kept a real lid on the costs in our business, particularly now that we've got all our technology, and platforms live and operational. So, what we're really starting to see is that top line growth is starting to really drop through to the bottom line, particularly as we scale the business as well. So, on that card issuing side, volumes are increasing, which is increasing our margins, which is driving that profitability as well.

Andrew Musgrave

And that revenue grew 21% to US $18.2 million, continuing a three-year compound annual growth rate of 28%. Is 20% plus growth the level you're now managing the business to sustain, or does it accelerate from here?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, look, 20% is a pretty good marker for us in terms of where we want to be looking to achieve in terms of growth. Obviously, where we can outperform that and grow faster, we will absolutely be doing that. But as a business, I think, Andrew, that's probably a fairly reasonable target for us to be looking to achieve. And for us, it's not just about revenue growth, it's about profitable revenue growth as well. So, I think that that number's probably about right.

Andrew Musgrave

Now, active cards on the pay as a service platform more than doubled to over 150,000, and you processed US $630 million of volume. What's been the single biggest driver of that growth? Existing clients scaling up or new client wins?

Tony Sheehan:

Yeah, it's a combination, really, Andrew. I think then we've had some great new client wins, particularly in that fintech space, that have onboarded throughout the year. So, in New Zealand, we had Sharesie's where we've launched their debit card program for them. So that's gone, that's been a that's been a great program, continuing to grow. Then late in FY26 as well, we migrated across to our platform, the Hnry Card program. So that's in Australia, New Zealand, another debit card program there. So that's really those two programs that are sort of driving that the new client wins and the car that's associated with that. And then we're also getting growth from our existing book, particularly on the fintech side. I think we service a lot of credit unions in New Zealand. They're a very stable client base for us. Really, the growth is coming from our sort of fintech clients that are continuing to grow and add client numbers. So, sort of a combination between existing clients on there around that sort of fintech space and then new clients that we're adding is where we're sort of getting that real increase in those card numbers, which will drive the volumes in the year and in future years as well.

Andrew Musgrave

And the Hnry debit card migration and a new embedded finance debit card program both landed in late FY26. How much of the active card growth is migration driven versus organic? And how should investors think about the difference?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, so look, those two programs that I mentioned, which is the ones you're talking about, the Sharesies debit card program and the Hnry program as well, they've made up a pretty solid portion of that growth in card numbers. One of our existing fintech’s continues to grow their card numbers quite aggressively as well. So, I think going forward, what I'd really sort of be expecting to see in the business is we've got our sort of financial institution or credit union clients. I think they're quite stable as I mentioned, you know, you're not going to be seeing, I don't think, a huge amount of growth out of card numbers or volumes there. I think they'll continue to tick up. There's probably some consolidation in the sector that may happen as well, that has happened over time in New Zealand, similar to what happens in the Australian market here as the credit unions go for scale. But for us, and the way the way I certainly see it is growth will be coming from our fintech clients that we've got on. So, the Sharesie's, the Hnrys, the other fintech’s that we've got on our client book, and then new client wins as well will continue to drive that.

Andrew Musgrave

And you're onboarding four contracted payment as a service clients now with another four in final contracting. What's the typical lag between signing a client and them contributing meaningfully to revenue?

Tony Sheehan

Typically, we see it at about that sort of six to nine months after signing that the card program will launch. So, we charge some implementation fees to our clients to get the program up and running, then do all the integrations and all the card designs and the like that we need to do. But really, the revenue starts to flow when those card programs are live, and cards are being issued in market. So, it's really around that sort of six to nine months after signing the contract can also depend on the complexity of the card programs as well. But I think that's a that's a fairly good time frame that sort of applies across most of our client base.

Andrew Musgrave

Looking now at PaySim. PaySim is the default eftpos testing standard in Australia and used by five of the top ten global digital payment companies. Yet you flagged it has less than 0.5% share of a multi-billion-dollar global market. What's the constraint on converting that positioning into faster licensed sales?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, so PaySim, as I mentioned earlier, really functionally rich software. You can test, I think, up to about 60,000 different simulations of payments through the PaySim software on our payments testing solution there. Really, what we've been what we're starting to focus on is modernizing that technology. So, yes, it's very functionally rich. It probably looks a bit a little bit dated as well. So, we are part way through the project there of modernizing the look and feel of it as well. So, we've just completed phase one that's been released in pilot to a handful of our key clients here in Australia to do the testing and provide that feedback. Phase two, we'll be looking to release in the next sort of six to eight weeks from now, and then we'll complete the whole modernisation of PaySim in most likely by sort of Q3 FY27 as well. So, I think what has probably held us back a little bit there, Andrew, is probably the sort of the look and feel of it. It's quite a technical product. We're simplifying that because the testing needs that have happened in the market have changed over time. There's probably less technical knowledge now in the testing market. If you think about the banks and financial institutions that use PaySim in for their testing, you know, you're talking about the very large end of town here. There is less of that technical knowledge coming through these days. So, you need the easier-to-use sort of interface as well, which is what we're doing with the modernization of PaySim. So, I think that's actually going to help us drive new sales throughout Australia and globally, really. I think the opportunity for us is more global than it is in Australia, as you mentioned, default standard for eftpos certification in Australia, which means we do cater to pretty much all of the large institutions that are on the eftpos network in Australia. So, it's really about overseas sales for us. And the product itself can be sold globally because it doesn't need any licenses to operate.

Andrew Musgrave

And you signed four new overseas regional partners for PaySim in FY26. How central is the partner distribution model to PaySim's growth versus a direct sales push?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, so with our PaySim sales, we do a combination of both. We've got direct sales, so we do have the BDM in the business that is actively hunting and selling. He is also signing up new partners as well. But the partner network for us is really important in terms of distribution globally, that sort of partner network, which we think about as that one-to-many distribution network. If we're selling PaySim globally, and we do have a number of clients that are located globally that use PaySim, we've really got to be working through that distribution network, that partner network. Otherwise, you've going to have to bring on staff in those different regions to sell PaySim. It's a far more effective model for us to really sell through partners. And we do have about 14 partners now, as you said. We've signed four new partners in FY26. Really, the key for us is with the new product that's coming out, the with that sort of modernized look and feel it is to really push the sales through the partners in FY27 and beyond.

Andrew Musgrave

And Agentic AI reportedly compressed the timeline for phase one of the PaySim modernization project. Beyond development speed, what else is AI changing how the business operates?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, so as you said, we're seeing a lot of efficiencies on the development side of the business, and that's development and testing so that we can release products faster to market. The other area we're really seeing AI help our businesses is in the operations of the business. So, we're using AI to really remove a lot of manual tasks, automate those tasks, which means we need less sort of hands-on doing those sort of lower-level manual tasks. It is speeding that up internally, which means we can also do a lot more for our clients in terms of the service, but with the sort of same team size that we've got in place, Andrew. So really a lot of operational efficiencies there through the removal of manual tasks.

Andrew Musgrave

Now you completed the wind down and liquidation of the loss-making US entity in July. What did operating that business teach you about where change should and shouldn't compete?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, it's sort of a question I've asked myself a lot over time, what is the key learning that I take out of exiting the US? I think from my perspective, Andrew, the importance of controlling your own destiny. So, in Australia and New Zealand, we're a MasterCard principal issuer, so we have the license with MasterCard. We have an Australian Financial Services license in Australia, we're a financial service provider in New Zealand. So, we've got all the necessary regulatory and scheme licenses to provide the core service, which is really driving the growth of our business. If you look at the US, you cannot be a principal member for card issuing. In the US, you've got to run through a bank. So, we had to have a sponsor bank in the US. What that does is takes a huge element of control out of our hands and we saw this with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US, completely changed the regulatory landscape in the US, made it very, very difficult for us to launch programs that we had signed. Again, we're at the sort of the behest and demands of a sponsor bank of which we can't control. So, for me, it's really around controlling your own destiny and making sure as a business that that you focus on where you're winning. We're still a fairly small business. We've got sort of 80, 85 staff in our business. We need to make sure that we go after those areas and regions where we are having success as opposed to trying to spread ourselves too thin.

Andrew Musgrave

Looking ahead, growth in FY27 is expected to come primarily from payment as a service in Australia and PaySim commercialisation through the expanded partner channel. Which of those two feels like the bigger near-term opportunity to you right now?

Tony Sheehan

Look, it'll be on the Payments as a Service or our card processing and issuing operations in Australia. You know, we're really starting to scale up in New Zealand. We've had early success there over the over the last few years, picking up some great fintech clients. We also service the two largest credit unions in New Zealand, the largest building society and another one of the smaller credit unions. We really want to take that success that we've had in New Zealand and bring it into Australia. We, you know, we've got fairly minimal volumes in Australia, but the market size or the market opportunity in Australia, far bigger than it is in New Zealand. So, for us, and the way we see it is the immediate opportunity there is to really grow our card issuing and processing operations in Australia. And I think that's going to be our key driver of the business going forward, Andrew. I think we will get growth through PaySim particularly as we complete the modernization of the product and really push out through that distribution network or that partner network that we spoke about. But for me, Australia on the card issuing and processing side will be the key driver for us.

Andrew Musgrave

And to wrap things up, Tony, what's the final message you would like to leave with our listeners?

Tony Sheehan

Yeah, look, I think we've come a huge way, Andrew, over the last three years. As I think you've mentioned, we've turned the business from a loss-making business. It's had strong revenue growth. We've got a stable fixed cost base. You know, financial and operational perspective, we're in the strongest position we have ever been in. We've got our products are in good place, we've got a great pipeline of opportunity. So, for us, it's really looking forward is around that the speed of release of products, of which Agentic AI is playing a key part for that, and about new client sales. So, we just want to be signing more new clients across our Payments as a Service offering and across PaySim as well to drive that growth. So really to continue to grow on the successful foundations we've put in place over a number of years.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, Tony. Well, it's been great to chat today to get an update on the company, and we look forward to further updates in the upcoming months.

Tony Sheehan

Thanks, Andrew. Thanks for having me.

Andrew Musgrave

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.