Sentenial adds €8m in new contracts

Irish financial technology firm Sentenial has completed more than €8 million in deals in 2013, the company has said, identifying a surge in demand for its payment technology services ahead of Europe's switch to the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) next February.

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.

In France, Sentenial has recently agreed terms with utility giant GDF Suez, in the Netherlands it has won business with energy firm Essent and oil company Argos Energy, and in Belgium it has signed up IT group Econocom and leasing firm Parfip. In Ireland, Sentenial has added Laya Healthcare and Cork-based consumer financing group First Citizen Finance as customers.

Expansion
Sentenial chief executive Seán Fitzgerald said the expansion into European markets would help revenue at the firm more than double from the €6 million reported in 2012.

When the switchover to Sepa is made, Sentenial’s technology will be responsible for processing more than €60 billion worth of payments a year for EU companies and banks.

“Firms are waking up to the reality of the Sepa changeover deadline, and the serious implications it has for ensuring their payment systems don’t grind to a halt on February 1st, 2014,” he said.

Last month Sentenial announced plans to add 110 staff to its current head count of 160 before the end of 2014.

Sentenial is chaired by Kevin Lomax, the founder and former chairman of Misys, which was acquired in 2012 by private equity firm Vista for £1.3 billion.