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.

Fintech Ireland Newsletter: If you wish to receive the regular Fintech Ireland Newsletter for a round-up of fintech news and our events, sign-up here.  We use MailChimp, so you can sign-up and unsubscribe with ease. ​

Since mid August 2023, it has been very quiet at the Virtual Asset Services Provider end of town when the then last VASP, MoonPay, was registered in Ireland on 15 August.

Fintech Ireland and MiCAReady.com have published version 4 of the Map (with assistance from Susan O’Neill of SuLu Solutions and Peter Oakes of Fintech Ireland), updated to include Zodia Markets (Ireland) Limited.  Zodia Markets today (26 October 2023) joins Zodia Custody (Ireland) Limited, the latter which was registered back in July 2022, on version 4 of the Fintech Ireland Registered VASP Map.

The VASPs are registered by the Central Bank of Ireland for Anti Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism purposes under Section 106A of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 to 2021.  They are not, as such, 'authorised' firms.

Welcome Zodia Markets (Ireland) Limited to the Map.

Zodia Markets was registered by the Central Bank of Ireland on 26 October 2023.  Specifically, it is registered for service numbers: (i) exchange between virtual assets & fiat currencies; and (ii) the exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets.  Zodia Custody is registered in Ireland for service numbers: (iii) transfer of virtual assets -  conduct a transaction on behalf of another; and (iv) custodian wallet provider.  Zodia Custody was the second of 10 VASP registered in Ireland when it became registered back on 29 June 2022.

Zodia Markets joins other registered virtual asset services firms including Coinbase Europe Limited, Coinbase Custody International Limited, Gemini Intergalactic Europe Limited, Zodia Custody Ireland Limited, Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited, NoFrixion Ireland Limited, Pionex Ireland Limited and MoonPay.  Some of these crypto firms also hold an electronic money authorisation with the Central Bank of Ireland.

Zodia Market's local board of directors (according to Companies Registration Office records) are Nicholas Philpott and Michael Walsh.  The VASP was incorporated on 16 June 2021.

In a statement released on Linkedin by Zodia Markets its Chief Executive Officer, Michael Walsh, commented: “The registration will act as a launchpad for the business to enter the EU, a market where we see significant opportunity and demand for our offering”.   In the statement, Zodia Markets said "That this exciting development will enable it to provide services to clients throughout the European Union ahead of the implementation of the Markets of Cryptoassets Regulation. 

BTW, Fintech Ireland and Peter Oakes are supporting both (1) MiCA Ready which tracks materially important EU news on MiCA and (2) Digital Assets Africa.   If you need assistance with getting your VASP registered in Ireland or elsewhere in Europe reach out to Peter.

Don't forget to check out our Fintech Ireland Crypto Page.

Previous editions of the Map.

• Version 1, April 2023 Blog here
• Version 2, July 2023 Blog here
• Version 3, August 2023 Blog here

On 4th October 2023, Fidelity Digital Assets released its Bitcoin First Revisited Report - Why investors need to consider bitcoin separately from other digital assets. DOWNLOAD HERE.

The copyright in the report [and this blog] belongs to by Chris Kuiper and Jack Neureuter and Fidelity Digital Assets.

STARTS:

Background
In January 2022, we outlined Bitcoin’s unique characteristics, why they make Bitcoin fundamentally different from other digital assets, and why this is important for investors to consider. Over a year and a half later, Bitcoin continues to gain adoption and market share in the digital asset space, while other digital assets have faced separate headwinds. While we encourage those seeking a detailed understanding of Bitcoin’s unique value propositions to read the earlier overview, we aim to reiterate many of Bitcoin’s fundamental advantages below while contextualizing Bitcoin’s progress and position within today’s current digital asset market. 

Executive Summary 
Once investors have decided to invest in digital assets, the next question becomes, “Which one?” Of course, bitcoin is the most recognized, first-ever digital asset, but there are hundreds—even thousands of other digital assets in the ecosystem. 
One of the first concerns investors have regarding bitcoin is, as the first digital asset, it may be vulnerable to innovative destruction from competitors (such as the story of MySpace and Facebook). Another common consideration surrounding bitcoin is whether it offers the same potential reward or upside as some of the newer and smaller digital assets that have emerged. 

In this paper, we propose: 

1. Bitcoin is best understood as a monetary good and one of the primary investment theses for bitcoin is as the store of value asset in an increasingly digital world. 
2. Bitcoin is fundamentally different from any other digital asset. No other digital asset is likely to improve upon bitcoin as a monetary good because bitcoin is the most (relative to other digital assets) secure, decentralized, sound digital money and any “improvement” will potentially face trade-offs. 
3. There is not necessarily mutual exclusivity between the success of the Bitcoin network and all other digital asset networks. Rather, the rest of the digital asset ecosystem can fulfill different needs or solve other problems that bitcoin simply does not. 
4. Other non-bitcoin projects should be evaluated from a different perspective than bitcoin. 
5. Bitcoin should be considered an entry point for traditional allocators looking to gain exposure to digital assets. 
6. Investors should hold two distinctly separate frameworks for considering investment in this digital asset ecosystem. The first framework examines the inclusion of bitcoin as an emerging monetary good, and the second considers the addition of other digital assets that exhibit venture capital-like properties. 

ENDS

DOWNLOAD HERE

The copyright in the report [and this blog] belongs to by Chris Kuiper and Jack Neureuter and Fidelity Digital Assets.

Source: ​https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/research-and-insights/bitcoin-first-revisited

Not long after we released version 12 of Fintech Ireland's regulated fintech map comprising of authorised  electronic money and payments institutions and registered account information services providers (and as predicted) the Central Bank of Ireland authorised another emoney institution.  Thus we have released version 13.0 of the Map.

Kraken, a trading name of Payward Ireland Limited, was authorised as an electronic money institution on 25th September 2023 and may also provide payments services number 3c.  Many will know Kraken as a digital asset / crypto asset firm.  Kraken is also registered in Ireland under local law transposing the 5th AML Directive and it appears on Fintech Ireland's Map of Registered Virtual Asset Service Providers along with (as of today) another eight VASPs. 

Kraken is also one of one of five VASPs which also holds an electronic money authorisation - the other four being Coinbase, Gemini, Paysafe and NoFrixion.  Kraken's regulated Irish operations are owned by Payward Europe Limited, which in turn is own by Payward Inc.  

According to latest set of account available from the Companies Registration Office (CRO) for the year ending December 2021,  Payward Ireland Limited had a turnover of just €26,634 which was fully consumed by administrative expenses.  Given that it was not registered as a VASP until 11 April 2023, followed by its emoney authorisation on 25 September 2023, we will not get a clearer picture of the potential for its success in Ireland until say Quarter 4 2024 when its accounts for 2023 will be published on the CRO's website.

So what can Kraken do with its emoney authorisation?  Obviously it can issue and redeem electronic money and separately provide payment service 3c which is "Execution of payment transactions, including transfers of funds on a payment account with the user’s payment service provider or with another payment service provider with respect to execution of credit transfers, including standing orders.  

To date since the start of 2023, Ireland's Central Bank has authorised just four firms as either an electronic money institution (EMI) or a payments institutions (API) i.e. Kraken (Payward Ireland) (EMI), Freemarketfx Ireland (API), TransferMate (Interpay Limited) (EMI) and NoFrixion Limited (EMI). TransferMate was previously authorised as a payments institution from 2011-2023 before becoming an EMI in April 2023.  Thus effectively, Kraken, NoFrixion and Freemarketfx Ireland are the only new entities to become authorised in 2023 (3 authorisations in 9 months).    

Kraken was authorised more than 2.5 years after it was incorporated in Ireland on 23 February 2021. 

Our Peter Oakes last spoke with Charlie Taylor of the Business Post on the topic of regulatory authorisations on Sunday 20 August 2023.

• Peter Oakes, a former Central Bank enforcement director and founder of Fintech Ireland, said a firm setting up in Ireland needs to be aware that the upfront and post-authorisation costs in the first year will set them back about €1.5 million.
• “A considerable part of this outlay is required ahead of approval with no guarantee it will be given,” Oakes said.
• “No one wants to say this because everyone will say that by doing this you are not flying the green flag. Some consultants hide behind that because they might not be engaged [by clients] and risk losing other client work both pre and post authorisation in areas such as tax, IP, employment, commercial and corporate work. No-one should be surprised by this,” he added.

Ireland is now home to 48 legal entities which provide emoney services, payment services and standalone account information services.  There are 26 payments services firms in Ireland which includes 4 account information services providers and 23 emoney firms.  The records of four firms state that their authorisations were withdrawn.  The three that are no longer authorised to provide services in Ireland are Xpress Money Services Limited,  SWFS Ireland Limited and Modulr FS Europe Limited.  The 4th entity, noted above, Interpay Limited (TransferMate) switched from payments services only to an electronic money (plus payment services 3b, 3c, 5, 6) in April 2023.

Further Reading: See our post on the release of version 12 of this Map for more information. 

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.