Ann: 31 December 2021 Half Year Presentation, page-17

Samkell:
The increase in Employee Benefits includes expenses for the proposed Bank ($1.1m) and reflects the headcount growth during CY2021.(70% increase to 150).

I agree with your comment that "normally in a fintech I would have thought that these should have been going down".
However in the case of NOV, I would suggest that NOV is not in a normal situation as the ecosystem is now being monetised as fintechs and businesses utilise Novatti’s capabilities and the focus is now on accelerating expansion
There is commonly a lag between bringing staff on board and their subsequest contribution to business income.
Excluding the costs for the RADI application, a clearer picture should emerge for NOV as a fintech when results for the June 2022HY are available.
including contributions from Emersion and ATX.