More competition in the card payment sector may be on the way in Ireland.

PaymentSense, a UK-based firm that provides portable terminals for small businesses to accept payments from contactless credit cards and phones, is poised to seek an e-money licence from the Central Bank.

The company has an Irish website and is selling payment terminals to customers here. At present, the company says that it acts as an intermediary for Valitor, an Icelandic payments institution which is registered as an electronic money institute with the Central Bank and which was recently acquired by the Israeli-based startup, Rapyd.

A spokesperson for the Central Bank declined to comment on the company’s accreditation process.

The move, which could create more competition in Ireland, comes after criticism from some sectors about a rise in card payment fees in Ireland.

In October, the Home Project Centre (HPC) Group, a construction industry firm with brands such as TJ O’Mahony and PH Ross, said that “excessive” card payment charge increases were “hindering the growth and operations of Irish SMEs”.

The company described its 134pc increase in card processing costs here as “staggering”, claiming that the card costs have risen from €170,966 to €400,472.

“These exorbitant charges have no basis and are placing an unnecessary burden on businesses like HPC Group,” said the company’s finance director, Sean McNamara.

“Since the majority of our customers are mainly businesses, HPC Group strongly urges regulators to intervene and address this issue promptly.”

Other payment processing firms to have electric money licences in Ireland include Square, Sumup and Stripe.

Once granted a licence, firms can passport services into EEA countries, including the EU, Norway and Iceland. The UK is not an EEA country.

PaymentSense, which is headquartered in London, was founded by George Karibian and Jan Farrarons in 2008. In 2022, it processed over €11.5bn from more than 250 million transactions and saw its own turnover reach €201m.

Its card machines process contactless payments, chip-and-pin and old-fashioned magnetic stripe transactions.

It also facilitates online payments through a website or online app.

A spokesperson for PaymentSense was unavailable to comment.

Reporting On:https:www.independent.ie