Disruption in Australia’s payments markets is still in its early stages, even as the sharemarket’s voracious appetite for fast-growing fintechs appears to be subsiding, warn Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar, who are jointly named as The Australian Financial Review Business Person of the Year.

The billionaire duo founded the payments darling Afterpay, which is being acquired by New York Stock Exchange listed Square in the largest acquisition of an Australian company on record. The all-scrip deal, which came with a record sales multiple for an ASX-listed top 20 takeover target, valued Afterpay at $39 billion when it was struck in August.