New fintech player set to disrupt farm banking
With New Zealand farmers feeling disconnected from the financial services available to them, GrowPay, a NZ-founded and run digital financial platform, has launched a new option today to help them reshape their cash flows to match the peaks and troughs of farming.
Ross Hyland, right, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Royal Show.
Powered by YouTap, a NZ-founded digital banking SaaS company, GrowPay allows farmers to access a wide range of lending, deposit and marketplace products, allowing them to access capital which suits their needs, while maintaining access to competitive rates.
Launching with its own branded Mastercard debit card, GrowPay farmers will be able to access Mastercard’s global network. This will provide cardholders with a range of benefits, including global acceptance at 150 million merchants worldwide and access to Mastercard’s security and fraud prevention tools.
GrowPay was founded by Ross Hyland, a well-known figure among the NZ farming community, having been a founding shareholder of Seales Winslow and a director for several agribusiness ventures. Hyland says the ability to shape a farm's financial systems to better align with its cash flow places power in the hands of farmers, allowing for efficiencies to be found across the entire farm, whether it’s instant payments or working capital tailored to on-farm financial cycles.
“While farming is one of humanity's oldest practices, there is always room for innovation. We’re delighted to have Mastercard’s support of GrowPay’s mission to disrupt current practices and provide both NZ farmers and the wider agricultural industry with superior and innovative financial services. This is the game-changer farmers have been asking for,” says Hyland.
For dairy farmers Mark and Penny Brown, the GrowPay platform has taken the stress out of purchasing a neighbouring block of land, as they received a loan that correlated with their cash flow.
“Already, the ability to access lending via GrowPay has made a difference to how we run our farm. By aligning purchases to our cash flow, we can ease the financial stresses that come with growth and remain focused on what’s next, which is exciting,” says Mark Brown.
As part of GrowPay’s offering, farmers will be able to sell agricultural products before they even leave the farm and access bulk purchasing benefits from GrowPay suppliers, all maintained through a streamlined payments system.
GrowPay’s lending products include livestock trading, capital livestock, technology and asset finance loans, with terms and interest rates developed with the lifecycle of farms in mind to help reduce stresses on farm working capital.
On the flipside, a range of deposit products will be available for cash surpluses, often experienced following harvest, packhouse receipts or killing sheets, allowing surpluses to be put to work.
Ruth Riviere, Mastercard country manager, NZ and Pacific Islands, believes the introduction of technology like GrowPay will enable NZ farmers to maintain their standing as the most efficient farmers in the world, while participating in an increasingly digital economy.
Research commissioned by Mastercard highlighted NZ’s rural digital divide, with digital account engagement, online engagement and digital payment inequalities placing the country in the third quartile internationally, well behind some of our peers.
“GrowPay offers an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between our rural and urban centres. It’s an example of the NZ-born fintech innovations that are creating smarter, safer ways to pay and get paid,” says Riviere.
Ross Hyland says potential benefits are exciting, not just for farmers, but for whole communities and the wider economy.