Most of what we help Australian business owners with is the money going out — eftpos rates, merchant fees, terminal costs, settlement timing. But for a chunk of our clients, there's a much bigger conversation happening on the other side of the balance sheet: the money sitting in their business account, earning nothing.
If your business holds significant cash — operating reserves, customer float, escrow, retained earnings, working capital you've parked between projects — there's a good chance it's currently earning a rate close to zero. With the RBA cash rate sitting where it is, that's hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in foregone return on a balance most owners haven't thought twice about.
Through our treasury connections, we can help eligible businesses move that cash into facilities that earn at or near the RBA cash rate, with full liquidity. Here's how it works.
A Real Example: $4M with NAB, Earning 0%
Take a recent client — a multi-venue Australian operator with an average balance of around $4 million sitting in a standard NAB business transaction account. The interest rate they were earning on that balance? Zero. Not "low." Zero. Nobody at the bank had ever raised it, and nobody on their side had ever pushed for it.
We made the introduction through our treasury network, the rate negotiated for them came in at the RBA cash rate (recently sitting at around 3.6–3.9%), and the balance now earns that rate on call — same-day access, no lock-up, the funds remaining in regulated facilities in the business's name.
The numbers stack up like this:
- Old return: 0% on $4M = $0/year
- New return: ~3.6% on $4M = roughly $144,000/year in additional income
- Our fee in Year 1: 25% of the uplift = roughly $36,000, billed monthly across 12 months
- Net benefit to the business in Year 1: ~$108,000 they didn't have before
- Year 2 onwards: the full ~$144,000/year goes straight to their bottom line. We don't take another cent.
That's $4M of cash that was doing nothing now generating six figures of new income, with no operational changes on the client's side. The setup took a few weeks. The ongoing arrangement runs itself.
How the Service Works
The mechanics are straightforward:
- We have established relationships with treasury and cash management providers who work with mid-sized Australian businesses.
- For eligible clients, we facilitate the introduction and structure the arrangement to fit your liquidity needs.
- The cash earns at or near the RBA cash rate, depending on the structure chosen.
- You retain access to your funds — same-day or next-day depending on the facility.
- The balance sits in your business's name, in regulated facilities. We don't take custody of your money at any point.
This isn't a pooled investment product, it isn't a managed fund, and it isn't financial advice. It's a structuring service that uses our treasury network to give you access to returns that would normally require an in-house treasury function or a private banker to organise.
Who It's For
This service makes sense for businesses that hold material cash balances on a sustained basis. Some of the profiles where it fits:
- Bookmakers, gaming venues and licensed operators carrying customer float
- Hospitality groups with multi-venue operations and retained earnings between distributions
- Construction and trade businesses holding deposits, retentions, and project cash
- E-commerce businesses with seasonal working capital builds
- Professional services firms with trust account or client funds (subject to regulatory routing)
- Property and investment vehicles between deployments
- Any privately held business sitting on retained profit waiting for the right opportunity
The typical minimum balance for the service to be worthwhile is around $3 million. Below that, the maths still works in principle but the absolute dollar return doesn't usually justify the setup. Above $5 million it gets very interesting very quickly.
What It Costs You
This is the bit we like to be upfront about, because most financial services pricing isn't. The fee formula is plain — billed monthly, in writing, with no surprises:
1/12 × 25% × (new rate − old rate) × balance, per month, for 12 months only. Plus GST.
Plain English version: we take 25% of the additional interest we earn for you, charged across the first 12 months. After that, nothing. No trailing commission, no annual management fee, no performance clip. From year two onwards, every dollar of additional return is yours, full stop.
If we don't earn you anything above your existing rate, we don't get paid. The pricing aligns us with you, which is how we run the rest of our business too.
The honest framing: On the $4M example above, the Year 1 fee works out to roughly $36,000. The client took home around $108,000 in new income in Year 1. From Year 2 they keep the full $144,000/year, every year, with no further cost. The fee pays for itself many times over in the first year and disappears after that.
And There's a Refund Opportunity for Eftpos Brokers Clients
Here's where it gets interesting if you're already an Eftpos Brokers customer or thinking about becoming one. Built into our treasury arrangement is a refund clause: if we also broker your merchant acquiring business before the end of 2026, we refund every cent of treasury fees you've paid us.
That means if you take both services — the treasury arrangement on your idle cash AND your eftpos through us — you effectively get the treasury service for free. The full Year 1 uplift goes to your bottom line, the entire $144k/year (in our example) starts from day one, and you're saving on your card processing on top.
For multi-venue hospitality operators, accommodation groups, gaming venues and any other business that needs both eftpos and has cash sitting on the balance sheet, that's the most efficient setup we offer.
Why More Owners Don't Know About This
Three reasons usually:
- Their bank never told them. Their bank earns the spread on idle cash sitting in low-interest business accounts. Pointing customers toward better-yielding alternatives is the opposite of how banks make money on transaction balances.
- "Treasury" sounds like something only corporates do. It's not — the same access that big businesses use is available to smaller operators through the right network. We're that network.
- It feels too good to be true. It isn't. Cash held in regulated facilities at the RBA cash rate, with same-day access, is a normal feature of Australian financial markets. Most owners just haven't been shown the door.
What's Involved If You Want to Explore It
If you think this might fit, the process is simple:
- A short, no-cost conversation with us about your cash position and liquidity needs.
- We assess fit and indicate the structures available for your situation.
- If it makes sense, we make the introductions and help structure the arrangement.
- You make the final decision before any money moves. Nothing happens without your explicit sign-off.
Most clients we've set this up for have the assessment and structuring done within a few weeks of the first conversation.
Get in Touch
If you've got a meaningful cash balance sitting in your business account earning nothing, we'd be happy to walk you through what's possible. Call Matt directly on 1800 595 340, email matt@eftposbrokers.com.au, or book a confidential consultation here.
We'll have a private conversation about your numbers and what's available. No paperwork, no obligation, no information shared without your permission.
The information in this article is general in nature and does not constitute financial advice. Eftpos Brokers facilitates introductions to regulated treasury providers; suitability depends on your individual circumstances. Cash rate returns vary with the prevailing RBA cash rate.