September 17, 2015 - A new trade association intended to provide a single voice for the emerging fintech and payments ecosystem in Ireland has launched, with the aim of establishing the Republic as a leading international financial services hub.

Launched with the support of both Enterprise Ireland. the IDA and the Department of Finance, the Fintech and Payments Association of Ireland (FPAI) brings together the members of two existing not for profit organisations, Payments Ireland, which was established by Colm Lyon, founder of Realex Payments and the FinTech-Ireland meet up group which was set up by Morgan Lynch, CEO of Irish FinTech start-up Senddr.

Lyon and Lynch are joined on the board of the new body by Anna Scally of KPMG and Colm Rafferty of Maples and Calder, who played an instrumental role in co-ordinating the initiative.

Founder members include CurrencyFair, Fexco, Finergo, First Derivatives, Sysnet, Realex, Paywithfire, TransferMate, Linked Finance, Senddr, Britebill, Payzone, Grid Finance, Rubicoin, Version1, Supercharge, Accenture, AIB Merchant Services, Bank of Ireland, Citi and NDRC.

The Irish Government's strategy for International Financial Services launched in March 2015 ('IFS2020 - a new Strategy for Ireland's International Financial Services Sector') specifically calls out the need to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to growth of the sector and extensive stakeholder consultation.

KPMG's Scally comments: "Ireland is one of the best places in the world for tech companies to do business and is fast becoming a global centre for fintech. We already have a vibrant, dynamic technology sector, a well-established global financial services centre and a strong ecosystem of tech start-ups. FPAI aims to bring all of this together and will provide a strong, united voice for the growing fintech community and its investors."

A recent report from Deloitte, published in March, suggested that employment in Ireland's fintech sector could double in the next five years and exceed 5000 employees.