Financial technology player Sentenial is to hire 110 staff as it gears up to help banks and businesses prepare for the switch to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
Sentenial already employs 160 staff, having added 100 people in the past 12 months, making it one of Ireland’s fastest-growing indigenous technology companies. The new roles will be filled by the end of 2014, with 30 to be advertised before Christmas.
“The expansion we’re announcing today will help support the rapid growth we have experienced in 2013 and the pipeline of opportunities in coming months,” said Sentenial CEO Sean Fitzgerald.
“I am very proud to have built a successful indigenous Irish technology business from a start-up in 2003, into a rapidly growing business at heart of the European payments system.”
SEPA deadline approaches – are firms ready?
He said companies are realising the deadline for SEPA implementation is fast approaching and are seeking expert advice to get their business ready.
“While banks and large companies have invested in upgrading their systems, many SMEs in Ireland have not made adequate preparation, and could have an unpleasant surprise on 1 February finding that they are unable to pay suppliers and staff, or receive payments from customers,” Fitzgerald said.
SEPA will provide a common payment processing system across the European Union, enabling cross-border payments to be completed as easily as domestic transfers, reducing costs and complexity for all bank account users.
SEPA introduces competition between banks that offer payment services with the intention of lowering costs within the EU. All bank accounts will be defined by specific bank identifier codes (BIC) and International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN).
When the switchover to SEPA is made next year, Sentenial’s technology will be responsible for processing more than €60bn worth of payments a year for companies and banks across Europe.
Sentenial’s banking customers across Europe now include Bank of America, ING, AIB and Bank of Ireland. Business customers in include insurance group 123.ie, telecoms company Digiweb and credit card company Barclaycard.
“Today’s announcement that one leading Irish technology company, which has been supported by my department in the past, is creating 110 jobs in the next 15 months is an indication of exactly how much they can achieve,” the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD, said.
“Sentenial is growing rapidly in a cutting-edge area of financial technology, and its commitment to almost double its workforce by the end 2014 is a remarkable achievement,” Bruton added.
