US e-payment giant sets up European office in Dublin


3 Feb 2004

One of the largest electronic payment processing firms in the US has established its first European office in Dublin, spurred on by the existence of Intel, Apple and Dell in Ireland as well as the imminent arrival of Google.

Paymentech processes more payment transactions than any other company in North America, and more than half of all Internet transactions for retailers accepting US and international payments via traditional point of sale, Internet, catalogue and recurring payments.

In 2002 the company processed 4.2bn transactions and US$123bn in bankcard sales in 14 currencies.

The company’s decision to establish a European presence at Dublin’s East Point Business Park is understood to have been driven by the fact that several of its key customers, including AOL, Symantec, Lands End and Amazon.com already conduct business in Europe.

The company has not made it clear how many jobs will be created at the Dublin operation. An IDA Ireland spokesperson told siliconrepublic.com that the company came to Ireland independently and has not requested development or support grants from the agency.

The company said that Ireland, which hosts offices for Apple, Google and Intel, has become a “global epicentre” of technology and research. “Paymentech’s new European base will assure a stronger foothold in global markets. A number of new product and technology initiatives are already in progress that will benefit European merchants”, the company said in a statement.

“Conducting business where our merchants conduct business affords us greater ability to leverage our strengths as a major payments processor and to give direct support to our global customers,” said Paymentech CEO Michael Duffy. “We felt it was time to bring our operations to them.”

Paymentech’s new Dublin office will be headed by European managing director, John Shirey, who commented: “We have many customers who are based in the US and have offices in Europe, and it just makes sense that we would be there to support them. We look forward to offering EU merchants our core strengths of service, advocacy within the card associations and the technology they need to remain competitive in the European marketplace.”

By John Kennedy