Holvi banking on success

Holvi, a new online Finnish banking alternative, will open its virtual doors for business in Ireland next month.

The start-up, which is already operational in its home market and also in Austria, plans to eventually attract customers from every country in Europe, after "passporting" its regulatory clearance from the Finnish authorities across the continent under EU rules.

It apparently sees Ireland as an important test market. After everything that has befallen this nation since 2008, Irish people are well used to being “tested” by banks, all right . . . but not in a good way.

Happily, Holvi should provide an online alternative to our errant home-grown institutions, particularly for SMEs. As well as a normal account, it also provides its customers with a suite of online “tools” to assess the financial health of their business.

Holvi has hired Thomas O’Reilly to run its operation here. He was previously country manager for SumUp, the mobile payments firm that pulled out of Ireland in May.

He told me this week he will soon start hiring staff for the Irish arm, and hopes to have about 10 new employees on board by the end of the year, engaged in sales, marketing and administration for Holvi.

Good luck to it.