In marked contrast to the retail banking market in Ireland which suffered the loss of both Ulster Bank and KBC Bank in recent years, there is an increasing level of competition in the payment acceptance/merchant acquiring market in Ireland. New players in the market have perhaps been attracted by the increased usage of electronic payments for consumer and business payments which received a particular impetus due to Covid. 

The Central Bank of Ireland produced a very informative Behind The Data report on payment card usage in September which revealed that spending on payment cards averaged €5.8b per month in the first half of the year, with approximately another €1b per month via ATM withdrawals and cashback at the point of sale.

So, who are the players looking for a piece of the expanding pie of electronic payment transactions? As we mentioned the retail banking market, it’s appropriate to look at the three remaining retail banks and the varying forms of partnerships they have for their business customers/merchants.
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AIB Merchant Services (AIBMS) is the largest acquirer in the Irish market and is a joint venture with US company Fiserv. As well as being a major player in Ireland, AIBMS is also one of the largest eCommerce acquirers in Europe. AIBMS moved earlier this year along with Fiserv into an interesting building in the Silicon Docks at 10 Hanover Quay. The building which includes a former warehouse was voted as the public’s favourite building for 2022 in the RIAI Public Choice award. The building serves as Fiservs headquarters for EMEA. 

In 2019 AIB and Fiserv also teamed up and formed a JV for the purchase of Payzone, one of the leading ISOs (Independent Sales Organisations) in Ireland and leading supplier of instore bill payments, for €100m.
If you have noticed a Clover point of sale device then more than likely the merchant is acquired by AIBMS and there is a good chance some of the software may have been developed at Fiserv’s R&D centre in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. Sport fans may have noticed the Fiserv logo on the geansaí (Irish for jersey) of the Premier County this summer, a sponsorship deal that was renewed for another year in October.

Bank of Ireland has a marketing alliance with Evo Payments called BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA). Evo Payments were acquired by Global Payments for $4b last year. Global Payments have had a presence in Ireland since 2015, when it acquired award-winning Irish Fintech pioneer Colm Lyon’s company Realex Payments for €115m. Global Payments did not acquire merchants in Ireland but many Irish eCommerce merchants would use the Realex gateway so we may see some merchants switch to the BOIPA acquiring proposition. However, from some anecdotal desktop research for this article it seems some of those “gateway only” merchants may have switched to Stripe in recent years.

More on the movers and shakers in the Irish payment acceptance market 

Elavon: has its European HQ Elavon Europe in Dublin with significant operations in Arklow. In 2019 Elavon acquired Sage Pay which was rebranded to Opayo in 2020 and the Opayo logo is familiar on many terminal splash screens.

Stripe: founded by the Collison brothers Patrick and John, Stripe has a sizeable organisation in Dublin and obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence in 2019. Stripe is often the first choice of many developers due to ease of integration.  It is also used to accept payment for organisations such as the GAA and GAAGo internationally. Stripe also process payments for one of the biggest single payment events each year, the RTÉ Late Late Toy Show charity appeal. Revolut has also accepted donations for the show for the past three years.

Barclaycard Payments: has its international operations in Ireland having held a Payments Institution (PI) licence since 2017. I spotted one of their terminals offshore when visiting Spike Island, Cork during the summer which is well worth a visit.

Square: part of Jack Dorsey’s Block organisation, Square probably pioneered the micro-merchant proposition with the original iPhone dongle in the US. Square’s been authorised as an EMI in Ireland since 2020 and serve Spain and France. Look out for SQ * on statement descriptor from outlets using their devices.

SumUp: its Air device which is paired with a smartphone app is widespread across food markets stalls, taxis and lots of other merchants that don’t necessarily have a fixed location. SumUp are HQ’ed in the UK and have held an EMI licence in Ireland since 2020.

Bluesnap: who received their PI licence in 2020 provide a global payment orchestration platform and provide local acquiring in 47 countries including the EU.

myPOS: received its EMI licence in Ireland 2022.  As well as eCommerce and card readers it also has a tap on glass softpos option. myPOS, HQ’ed in London, was recently acquired by Advent Capital for a deal worth approximately €500m.

PayPal: its wallet payment method is accepted by many eCommerce merchants while smaller merchants may use PayPal as their merchant account. PayPal opened their EMEA HQ in Ireland in 2003.

NPI (New Payment Innovation Limited): led by Carl Churchill has ambitious plans to capture 20% of the market in Ireland and are currently recruiting with aims to have 100 people by the end of 2024. NPI are an ISO of Worldpay. Look out for their particularly vibrant terminal splash screen.

Viva: the Greek fintech that is minority owned by JP Morgan has launched in the Irish market and has a SoftPOS offering for Android and iPhone. Viva has an interesting approach with acceptance fees, for merchants that use their Viva issued debit card to pay business expenses, a cashback is earned that is to rebate their transaction fees.

Planet (formerly Fintrax): The Galway HQ’ed company that provide FX, DCC and tax back services also provide payment acceptance and some Insomnia coffee shops have Planet terminals.
 
Segpay: The Florida HQ’ed company have held a PI licence in Ireland since 2020 and provide card processing for online and subscription merchants.

Some industry vertical specific players include Toast the Boston, Mass HQ’ed organisation who provide their POS devices to restaurants (you may see TST on the statement descriptor from outlets using their devices). Toast also has a development function in Dublin. Phorest Salon Software an Irish founded startup focussing on the hair and beauty industry launched PhorestPay which includes card terminals powered by Stripe. For returning customers they have an interesting cardless checkout feature which stores customers payment cards processing the transaction as card on file.

This article is not exhaustive and there are multiple agents and ISOs in the market as well as international acquirers and PSPs providing services to specific merchants in Ireland. For example Adyen are the processor for Grafton PLC owned DIY chain Woodie’s and you will see the Adyen logo on POS terminals in Woodies stores while Apache Pizza use Dutch fintech Mollie for their online transactions.

New entrants continue to arrive in Ireland particularly UK companies post Brexit and Paymentsense, who are active in the Irish market as an agent of Valitor, the Icelandic acquirer owned by Rapyd.  And just to show how current this article is, Paymentsense appeared on the CBI's website on 27 November with an EMI authorisation date of 22 November 2023. Follow the Fintech Ireland maps to keep up-to-date on new entrants.
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If we have missed any major players feel free to get in contact. ​

Saving the biggest at least in eCommerce and global volume to last. JP Morgan interestingly has two Payment Institution licences through Chase Paymentech from 2018 and JP Morgan since 2019. JP Morgan, according to the Nilson Report, was again the largest eCommerce acquirer in Europe in 2022 with a 17.4% market share and the largest VISA & Mastercard acquirer globally with 37b transactions processed in 2022.

We have added, with a very warm welcome, the following to the ‘Ireland’s Regulated Fintech Ecosystem (Payments & Crowdfunding)" Map Version 2:

1. Payoma Ireland Limited (authorised electronic money institution)
2. Bridge Peer Financial Limited trading as Property Bridges (authorised crowdfunding services provider)
3. Slua Ventures Ltd t/a Spark Crowdfunding (authorised crowdfunding services provider)

 
Payoma has also been added to our other regulated fintech map, Version 14, showcasing emoney and payments firms only.

Ireland is now home to 62 authorised or registered fintech across emoney, payments, open banking and crowdfunding.

​Payoma was authorised as an electronic money institution on 3 November 2023, and in addition to electronic money services is authorised to provide payment services 3a, 3b, 3c and 5. 

It is 100% owned by Payoma Limited in the UK which is authorised as an emoney firm by the Financial Conduct Authority. Payoma continues a trend of firms happy to go on the record about their positive experience of dealing with Ireland’s national competent authority, the Central Bank of Ireland saying in a statement “Our heartfelt gratitude extends to the entire team at the Central Bank of Ireland for their unwavering support and belief in the potential of our project. Their guidance has been invaluable, and it is with their assistance that we have realized this ambitious goal.”

Property Bridges and Spark Crowdfunding, both authorised by the cut-off date of 10 November 2023 join Seedrs Europe Limited as the only locally authorised crowdfunding service providers. 

Further Reading:

• Release of version 13 of the Regulated Fintech Emoney & Payments Map 

Sign-up to the Fintech Ireland Newsletter here to keep up to date with Irish fintech news, follows us on Twitter and follow the Fintech Ireland's Linkedin Page.  If you are first connections with Peter Oakes, you can also join the Fintech Ireland Group on Linkedin.