A lot of payment systems still rely on user‑pays charging — the little add‑on fees at the end that only work because most people don’t notice them. That model is already under pressure, and once the real cost structures are properly exposed, it’s hard to see it surviving in its current form. When that squeeze comes, the businesses built on clipping users directly are the ones that get hit first.
That’s where CCL is different. Cuscal isn’t running a “hope‑they‑don’t‑notice” fee model. It earns its money from the infrastructure layer — issuing, acquiring, switching, real‑time payments — the plumbing that keeps the system running whether people like fees or not. It’s volume‑linked, regulated, and tied to the actual flow of transactions, not to what a merchant can sneak past a customer.
Unlike the others, it pays a dividend. Real cash. Fully franked. Off a business model that doesn’t depend on gouging end‑users or hiding fees in the fine print. When the user‑pays model finally gets dragged into the light, CCL isn’t the one exposed — it’s the one still processing every transaction and sending shareholders a cheque.
I’ve already divested out of the user‑pays names — made a bit in the early days, I now believe the writing on the wall is getting clearer. The economics don’t stack up once the fee‑gouging gets attention. CCL was the opposite story from day one, I was lucky enough to get set in the IPO.
DISC: hold IRL and SM