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Appointments of Stephen Benton and Mark Baxter underscore commitment to direct participation in Australia's New Payments Platform and impending APRA regulation.
Australia – Sydney, August 13, 2026 — Nium, the global leader in real-time cross-border payments infrastructure, today announced the appointment of Stephen Benton as Chair of the Board and Mark Baxter as Non-Executive Director at Nium Australia. The appointments underscore Nium's commitment to securing APRA authorisation as a Purchased Payment Facility (PPF) provider and connecting directly to Australia's New Payments Platform (NPP).
Since 2014, Nium has been an active participant in Australia's payments landscape, holding an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL No. 464627) and AUSTRAC registration. Nium is pursuing APRA authorisation under APRA's Purchased Payment Facility (PPF) framework, and the relevant approvals required for direct NPP participation, rather than access it through a bank intermediary. For Nium, this represents a fundamental shift from operating as an intermediary to becoming true payments infrastructure in the region.
Direct NPP participation will give Nium independent capital, independent risk management, and unmediated access to Australia's NPP. For Australian financial institutions and enterprises, it means access to a payments partner with independent infrastructure and the full operational capabilities that direct participation unlocks.
Strategic leadership appointments
Stephen Benton brings extensive first-hand knowledge of the infrastructure Nium seeks to connect to. As CEO and Managing Director of eftpos from 2018 to 2022, he led the company through its landmark consolidation into Australian Payments Plus (AP+), the entity that now operates the NPP. His three decades in payments and consumer finance span leadership roles at Westpac, Bankwest, and Citibank.
"I'm excited to join Nium at such a critical moment," Benton said. "Nium is a fast-growing business delivering unique value on a global scale, and I'm looking forward to helping it reach the major milestone of achieving APRA authorisation as a PPF provider while driving continued growth and innovation in the Australian market."
Mark Baxter brings his deep experience in enterprise risk, prudential regulation and governance, including experience earlier in his career at APRA. He has held Chief Risk Officer roles at QBE Insurance (Australia & New Zealand) and Prudential (UK & Europe), and global financial risk leadership at Old Mutual Group. His experience will support Nium as it continues to strengthen the governance, risk, and operational frameworks underpinning its growth in Australia.
"I'm joining Nium's Board because its mission to enable real-time commerce, backed by strong risk and governance, aligns with my commitment to financial systems that are inclusive, accessible, and built to serve people," Baxter said. "It's a globally minded fintech using innovative infrastructure to transform how money moves across borders. I look forward to supporting Nium as it invests in the governance, infrastructure, and local capabilities needed for its next phase of growth in Australia."
What direct participation enables
As a Direct Participant of the NPP, both financial institutions and enterprises in Australia and global companies doing business in the region will be able to use Nium to:
- Access a payments partner with independent infrastructure and direct NPP connectivity.
- Leverage Nium's global capabilities across 190+ countries and 100+ currencies without intermediary constraints.
- Benefit from governance and risk management standards aligned with APRA's prudential expectations.
- Scale cross-border payments capabilities without building or maintaining independent infrastructure.
- Settle payments through Nium's own direct connection to the NPP, without a banking intermediary in the chain.
Global context
Nium has pursued direct-connectivity models in other regulated markets — a pattern reflecting a core principle: Nium operates as true infrastructure, not a service layer dependent on banking relationships.
"These appointments strengthen Nium's Australian board as we move toward APRA authorisation," says Spencer Hanlon, COO of Nium. "Stephen and Mark bring direct experience of the AP+/NPP ecosystem and APRA-regulated risk governance. This is a deliberate step toward Nium operating as a directly connected payments infrastructure provider in Australia, supporting our mission to connect money movement across any network, any format, any geography."
