Paymentus Sees Growth Ahead for Its Instant Payments Ecosystem

Paymentus noted in its latest earnings report that its instant payments network is gaining more adherents as wholesale business-to-business (B2B), healthcare and other firms seek to transform bill pay operations.

Earnings materials showed that revenues were up 18.9% to $152.4 million. Transactions in the third quarter surged 25.2%, to 115.4 million.

CEO Dushyant Sharma noted on the conference call with analysts that the firm exited the third quarter with “a strong bookings backlog,” and added that the company’s instant payment ecosystem “continues to be attractive to financial institutions as well because it allows them to modernize their legacy bill pay experience with minimal difficulty or expense.”

During the quarter, the company signed two large insurance companies to use the Paymentus platform and the instant payment network ecosystem “to receive payments from various channels from the consumer and business policy holders.” Paymentus also, he said, signed a large consumer finance business for managing its loan payments across all channels. A credit union, he added, has signed on to the company’s instant payment network to manage online bill payments.

CFO Sanjay Kalra said on the call that the double-digit transaction growth was driven by increased transactions from existing billers, the launch of new billers and increased activity across the Paymentus instant payment network.

Backlog Supports Long-Range Plans

During the question-and-answer session with analysts, management noted that the backlog that is in place has given them confidence to reiterate their long-term model of 20% revenue growth in the years ahead.

Sharma added during the Q&A that for firms integrating into the instant payment network, there’s the advantage of “diverse capabilities and reach to [their] customers, whether it is on an app of my choice or it’s my bank of my choice or even a retail store of my choice.”

Separately, and as detailed in joint findings between PYMNTS Intelligence and Paymentus,  52% of consumers experienced frustrations when trying to pay their bills, ranging from complicated payment processes to technical glitches and delays. And an overwhelming majority of respondents — at 97% — who experienced at least one bill payment frustration expressed a high level of interest in using an inclusive platform to improve the bill payment experience.