Details of Adyen’s non-compliance were revealed in a report attached to the Australian arm’s 2024 financial accounts that were lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 28 April.

PwC audit partner Meredith Beatton stated in the report that she referred a case of potential non-compliance to ASIC after she conducted an audit of the company’s performance for meeting the requirements of its financial services licence.

Beatton qualified her audit opinion of the company’s compliance on the grounds that Adyen Australia Pty Ltd failed to maintain in the December quarter 2024 a three-month projection of the financial resources it required to meet its business needs.

Under its licence, Adyen is required to comply with a standard known as “Option 1” to calculate, on an ongoing basis, its financial requirements for the next three months.

This standard involves calculating the cash expected to flow into and out of the business, and for the company to maintain an appropriate financial buffer.

The cash needs requirement is viewed by ASIC as a “fundamental” benchmark to ensure that licensees can meet their financial obligations and manage liquidity risks.

“For the months October 2024, November 2024 and December 2024, the licensee did not maintain at all times a projection (covering at least the following 3 months) that purported to, and appeared on its face to comply with, paragraph (a) of the definition of either "Option 1" under its licence,” Beatton stated in her audit report.

“As a result of the above, we have qualified Part 5 (a) (ii) of our report.

“PricewaterhouseCoopers reported this matter to ASIC on 27 April 2025.”

Adyen’s Australian board is led by the parent company’s global co-chief executive, Ingo Uytdehaage. The other three directors are Australian country manager, Hayley Fisher, global chief commercial officer Roelant Prins and former Australian executive, Sam Halse.

Adyen confirmed to PayDay News on background that the company had not maintained at all times a cash projection the December quarter last year, but attributed the non-compliance to an “administrative oversight”.

PayDay News was told the non-compliance did not impact the company’s ability to meet its payment obligations during the quarter or affect its liquidity position.

Adyen indicated the matter had been reported to ASIC in line with its obligations and that measures had been taken to prevent a recurrence.

PayDay News has sought comment from ASIC.

ADYEN POSTS RECORD AUSTRALIAN PROFIT

The cash requirements of Adyen’s Australian business appear to be intensifying mostly as a result of the subsidiary’s breakneck growth.

The local business expanded topline revenue by more than 35 per cent to $159.4 million in the 12 months to the end of December as it grew its merchant base and deepened its relationship with key global retailers operating in Australia, such as McDonald’s.

Adyen Australia Pty Ltd reported a bottom-line profit of $10.4 million, up 61 per cent on the 2023 net result of $6.4 million.

The 2024 profit was boosted by a large increase in interest-related income flowing from the company’s increased need to hold more cash to support its business growth.

As merchant acquirers such as Adyen grow transaction volumes, liquidity requirements intensify because they need to make additional payments to card issuing institutions and schemes such as Visa and Mastercard to cover interchange and scheme fee costs.

The amount of cash that Adyen set aside at the end of December 2024 to pay interchange and other fees to financial institutions ballooned to $294.6 million from only $133 million 12 months earlier.

While this should be viewed as positive news because it reflects booming growth in transaction volumes, it also underlines the potential hazards of managing liquidity during periods of rapid business expansion.

Directors of the Australian entity said they expected the rapid growth in activity recorded last year to continue.

“At the publication date of this report, it is expected that the Company will be able to sustain its volume growth and business activity despite any potential changes in shopper behaviour and resulting impact on demand for our merchants’ products and services,” the board stated in the report.