Realex signs six-year deal with HSBC

PAYMENT SERVICES provider Realex has signed a six-year deal with HSBC Merchant Services that will see it provide HSBC with software and managed services to be used by its online retail clients.

As part of the agreement Realex will perform customer support services to HSBC from its Dublin offices.

The company, led by chief executive Colm Lyon, recently embarked on a recruitment drive at its Dublin office to service the deal. Around 90 of Realex’s 110 employees are based in its offices in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, with the firm also employing staff in London and Paris.

The deal with HSBC, which was for an undisclosed sum, will double Realex’s clients to more than 10,000 within 12 months, the company said.

Mr Lyon described the deal as “a considerable turning point” in the history of the company, which has successfully scaled up its business in recent years. HSBC Merchant Services, a subsidiary of Global Payments, is one of the largest independent payment processors in the UK.

Realex announced the addition of 50 new jobs last October, including a dedicated customer operations team. It plans to move to new Dublin city centre offices that can accommodate 250 staff, which Mr Lyon said would facilitate continued expansion.

The most recent accounts for Realex show that it increased its revenue by 10 per cent in 2010, reaching €7.7 million, while accumulated profits were 14 per cent higher at €3.5 million.

It indicated yesterday that the number of transactions it processed in the final quarter of 2011 was up 53 per cent on the same period the year before.

Realex was founded Mr Lyon, a former Ulster Bank executive, in 2000. Its clients include include Vodafone, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, Motortax.ie, Party Poker and Cryptologic.