Our story

Fire was founded by Colm Lyon, back in 2010, when it was part of an online gateway business called Realex Payments. Colm started Realex Payments in 2000 with Owen O Byrne, who now leads Product at Fire.

Fire was created as a separate business to help merchants, gateways and acquirers go to market with new products such as open banking payment acceptance, automated payouts and merchant settlement.

In 2015, Global Payments acquired Realex Payments and it was at this time, that Fire was spun out as a separate business, led by Colm. Since then Fire has focused on working with fintechs and corporate clients that need integrated payment processing as an integral part of their business.

Learn about our founder

The team

With a strong customer centric approach and extensive payments experience spanning decades, our leadership team and staff are committed to delivering a compelling solution for our customers.

Our team is deeply involved in the payments ecosystem across the UK, Ireland and Europe where we participate and contribute to numerous industry discussions.

The Fire team is led by Colm Lyon - who sits on several industry groups and has a long track record in the industry. The wider leadership team and board are highly regarded experienced payments and regulatory experts.

Meet the team

Our Values

Commitment

We go beyond passion and commit to achieving our agreed objectives. We believe in the mission and vision of Fire. We are excited about the future and scaling the business. We take responsibility, always acting with integrity and in a value consistent way.

Service

We are Customer First in our approach to business, always aware and promoting a positive customer outcome. Our product & service is exceptional to the point that our customers are advocates. We make every interaction a pleasure.

Trust

We are rock solid. We build risk management and compliance innately into our products, operations and ways of working. We use multiple lines of defence to maintain high standards of control with clearly defined owners. Our services and systems are constant, reliable and secure.

People

We keep things simple, working together in smart teams with open, honest and frequent communications. We are committed and engaged, recruiting talented people. We help each other grow and learn, becoming experts in payments.

Innovation

We solve big problems. We know and understand the market. We build products that are holistic and compelling in terms of design, experience and function, never compromising on quality or trust. We are agile and work to agreed methodologies.

Join the team

Interested in starting a new chapter with an established and rapidly growing fintech company?

Do you seek fresh challenges in the payments sector, beyond the confines of routine roles?

Here's your chance to join our dynamic team at Fire and make a real impact.

Careers

Colm Lyon and members of the Fire team seated around a table during a workshop.

Regulatory status

Regulated in Ireland (EU) since 2010 and in the UK since 2018 to provide a comprehensive range of payment services.

We are a principal issuer of Mastercard® debit cards and process Faster Payments, Bacs, Direct Debits, SEPA transfers, open banking payments and FX services.

Fire provides euro and sterling accounts to its customers as standard, each with its own unique IE IBAN and Account Number, where funds may be paid, held and paid out.

Regulatory information