Zip's CFO on double-digit growth and winning the 100m-strong US market

Please note this interview was filmed on 21 August 2026. 

Financial services provider Zip Co (ASX: ZIP) has delivered one of the surprise results of reporting season so far. As my colleague Keith Ford wrote of the company's FY26 results, "it’s hard to find numbers that aren’t up double digits."

Record cash earnings were the key highlight, up 58%, with operating margins at 20%. The market initially responded well to the results, with ZIP up 12% at one point on Thursday, before giving up those gains. 

The company is also planning a share consolidation and US dual listing, but CEO Cynthia Scott recently confirmed the listing would not proceed until market conditions had improved. 

I spoke to CFO Gordon Bell, who talked us through the key numbers behind the company's impressive results and how it's tackling the next big opportunity - the US market.

What's driving the record numbers

A record cash group earnings number of $269 million, a 58% year-on-year increase, and transaction volume growing 27% to 16.7 billion (with US volumes up 42%) underscored a big year of growth for Zip, says Bell. 

"We're really pleased with the FY26 result we've delivered - another year of significant growth and profitability. We exceeded our FY26 guidance, underpinned by record earnings in both markets."

"All of this demonstrates the earnings power and the operating leverage in the business."

For Bell, the strong numbers are built on the relationship it is building with customers in Australia and the US. He says Zip are filling a gap in the market for many customers, especially in the US.

"It all starts with our customers and and we at Zip are here to provide appropriate services and product offerings where traditional financial products have let them down."

"We're becoming more profitable with even more solid foundations. Our customers are choosing Zip more often and this is giving us a great platform as we move into the next phase of growth."

The US opportunity

While the latest results have shown Zip has managed to already make significant headway in the US, there's two factors that Bell believes show the size of the opportunity still ahead for the company.

The first is the fact that the US market is still fairly nascent. "It's a very early stage market there given the buy now pay later product still represents less than 2% of US payments and approximately 6% of e-commerce," says Bell. 

"If you compare that number to a more established market like Australia or parts of Europe, it's more like 15-20%. So the there's a huge opportunity there in the sector more broadly."

The other factor is the differentiated customer Zip can serve there. 

"There are more than 100 million hardworking low-to-middle income Americans who are underserved by traditional credit," he says. "What we're seeing is those customers want to build relationships with Zip."

"They're choosing us more frequently and they they they want to use us across more areas of their everyday spending. So that really is the opportunity for us to lean in there and provide the offerings and services that allow them to do that."

"We've delivered a second consecutive year of of growth in more than 40% of volumes and and we really feel that our scale in the US will be further buoyed by some of the new offerings and new products that we hope to bring to market."