Chase Paymentech Formally Opens European HQ in Dublin, Ireland

Inaugural operations at the new facility were celebrated today by an opening ceremony and tour by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Chase Paymentech president and chief executive officer Michael Duffy and managing director of Chase Paymentech's European operations Shane Fitzpatrick.

Led by Fitzpatrick, Chase Paymentech's expanded Dublin presence enhances the company's broader strategy to best serve its merchant partners across the globe through a series of cross-border payment initiatives.

"We consider this enhanced physical presence a major milestone in our global strategy to expand and support the growth of our US-based merchant customers into Europe," said Fitzpatrick. "We have a significant European client base, including household names such as Google, Amazon, AOL and Yahoo. Initially, we'll be targeting new businesses in Western Europe, then eventually expand into Asia-Pacific markets."

"Merchants and consumers alike continually look for the optimal choices that will provide the maximum value realized in each dollar, pound or euro spent," said Duffy. "With a growing focus on both traditional and alternative payments among both groups, there's a greater need to have the best partner to maximize these channels. We expect that Shane's extensive experience will help drive the growth of our merchants across geographical borders."

According to Forrester Research, the number of Europeans shopping online will grow from 100 million to 174 million. In the United Kingdom, the average yearly per consumer Web retail spend will grow from around 1,000 euro to 1,500 euro, as UK consumers outspend even their US counterparts online. Overall, this will cause European ecommerce to surge to 263 billion euro in 2011, with travel, clothes, groceries, and consumer electronics all above the 10 billion euro per year mark.

European Central Bank data indicates that in 2006 retail payment systems processed 35 billion transactions, with a total value of 26.4 trillion euro. The use of cashless payment instruments across all European countries has steadily increased over the past few years.

The Single European Payments Area (SEPA) initiative will result in significant payment infrastructure change in Europe, removing all differentiation between national and cross-border payments within the euro area. Chase Paymentech Europe is working diligently with the European Central Bank and regulatory bodies to ensure that the perspective of our merchant base is properly considered. SEPA will allow consumers to make non-cash euro payments to any beneficiary located anywhere in the euro area using a single bank account and a single set of payment instruments. All retail payments in euro will thereby become "domestic."

Chase Paymentech has supported the dynamic growth of US-based online merchants for decades, since the birth of ecommerce. For more than 10 years, the company has partnered with major ecommerce retailers to enable the payment strategies that supported those same merchants as they expanded their business to the European continent. Today's event marks a significant key milestone in Chase Paymentech's global expansion strategy.