New Tyro boss seeks to steady ship after takeover bid

The next chief of Tyro Payments, Jon Davey, hopes his appointment will bring greater certainty to the company after a tough period for the fintech, which is trying to shake up the payments sector.

Tyro, chaired by former Telstra boss David Thodey, said on Thursday it had appointed Davey, who runs one of its businesses and was previously a National Australia Bank executive, to replace outgoing boss Robbie Cook.

Tyro has faced recent challenges, including Cook’s looming departure, announced in June, and a weak share price, leaving it vulnerable to a possible takeover. This emerged last week when Potentia Capital lobbed a non-binding proposed offer at $1.27 a share. Tyro shares fell 3.8 per cent to $1.29 on Thursday.

Tyro, the largest provider of eftpos services outside the big four banks, is now considered to be in play, but Davey said it was too early to comment on his strategy for the company, pointing out he is not officially chief executive until October 3. Davey reiterated the company’s view that Potentia’s bid undervalued Tyro.

Davey said he was looking forward to leading the company through a “new chapter” and that his appointment would bring about greater certainty.

“I think any organisation that is going through a change in leadership does have a period of time where there can be some uncertainty. I think that both internally and externally, now the appointment has been made by the board, I think that will provide certainty,” Davey said.

Davey joined Tyro in May last year after the company bought Medipass, a health fintech that Davey led. Before that, Davey worked at NAB for a decade, including as executive general manager of digital, innovation and customer experience.

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Since Tyro floated in late 2019, its share price has fallen more than 60 per cent amid a wider drop in technology stocks, while the company’s customers were also affected by a damaging outage last year. Some have questioned Tyro’s move into banking, and Davey would not comment on the merits of this strategy but acknowledged it was being discussed in the market.