An e-commerce firm originally established by two Dublin brothers in the Dominican Republic and relocated back to Dublin recently has signed a deal that will enable it to manage cross-border electronic payment transactions across 10 European countries, siliconrepublic.com has learned.
FreeStar Technology Corporation is an international online payments company headed by three Irishmen and responsible for processing up to one million credit card payments for global brands such as Ikea and Finnair. The company recently moved its company headquarters from the Dominican Republic to Dublin. The company also has offices in Helsinki and Geneva.
The company is led by chief executive Paul Egan, chief financial officer Ciarán Egan and operations director Fionn Stakelum. It’s wholly owned subsidiary Rahaxi Processing Oy is based in Helsinki and has a robust Northern European Base24 credit-card processing platform. Rahaxi Processing Oy currently processes in excess of one million card payments per month for such companies as Finnair, Ikea and Stockman.
In a new deal the company has expanded its existing contract with New York Stock Exchange-listed Transaction Network Services (TNS), which will manage cross-border data communications for FreeStar’s wholly owned subsidiary Rahaxi Processing Oy.
Providing merchants, terminal providers and banks with electronic payment processing services, Rahaxi Processing captures transactions and routes them to financial institutions, including some of the leading Finnish banks.
As an extension to the original contract signed in 2004, TNS will support Rahaxi Processing’s European expansion initiative, launched this month with a presence in Spain. Rahaxi Processing plans to move into 10 European markets, including Portugal, Denmark and Turkey, building on its established presence in Finland and Sweden.
TNS’s global network will deliver high-speed debit, credit, smart card and wireless transactions from terminals to Rahaxi Processing’s payment processing engine in Helsinki and leading acquirers and issuers.
Now with approximately 1,700 merchants across Sweden and Finland, Rahaxi Processing hopes to add 3,000 merchants in the programme’s first year.
Paul Egan, chief executive officer of FreeStar, commented: “The contract satisfies the company’s long-term objective in these new markets and supports Rahaxi Processing’s investment in technology to provide fast and secure data transfers for its customers in the increasingly competitive retail market.”
By John Kennedy
