Fexco continues Latin American expansion with Brazilian tie-up

Irish financial services company Fexco has announced a strategic partnership with a Brazilian company that will enable some of its services to be rolled out at more than 300 ATMs across the South American country.

On Monday, the Kerry-based group, which has its sights set on Latin American expansion, said the deal with DAI Brazil ATM entails Fexco providing foreign exchange and IT services, improving transparency for international customers looking to convert their money to local currency.

The partnership will mean the rollout of Fexco’s dynamic currency conversion service, allowing international cardholders to withdraw cash and pay the cost of the transaction in their own currency with full disclosure of the exchange rate and margin, said the company.

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“The partnership exemplifies how we continue to place the customer at the heart of all we do, enabling full cost transparency and guaranteed rates for the cardholder,” said Sean Crowe, head of financial services at the Killorglin-headquartered company. “Fexco continues to invest in the Latin American market to facilitate the expansion into more countries and we look forward to building partnerships with new merchants in the region.”

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Fexco, which swung back into a profit in 2021 after difficult times during the early phase of the pandemic, is aiming to double in size by 2027, with a focus on tech-led innovation.

A spokeswoman for Fexco said 2023 has been “positive” to date with its “core business units expanding internationally through a series of contract wins and partnerships”.

The group, founded 40 years ago by Brian McCarthy, was forced to restructure in 2021 after revenues from its foreign exchange and payment services businesses declined during the Covid-19 crisis and two subsidiaries fell into administration.

Expansion mode

But Fexco posted a €1.2 million operating profit before exceptional items in 2021 after plunging to a net loss of nearly €48 million in 2020.

The financial services group has been in expansion mode in recent times, last year launching Pace, a platform that analyses carbon emissions in the aviation sector.

In February, Fexco invested €10 million through Fexco Asset Finance in a sustainable loan initiative overseen by Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland to help businesses cut their energy costs and reduce carbon emissions.

“We’re always future-focused,” Fexco chief operating officer Karl Aherne told The Irish Times in June. “We’re looking at emerging trends in the marketplace, and what we try and do is identify a niche within a large market, where the market is growing, but the niche is growing at an even faster pace.”