In theory, digital businesses can be run from almost anywhere in the world. However, it is still rare to hear a success story come from a location outside the world’s major tech hubs, on the level of New York, San Francisco, London, or Dubai.
Despite all that, in early 2024, when established London-based fintech My EU Pay was looking for a new location for their compliance office, the company opted for Derry, on Northern Ireland’s western border. Just over a year later, the compliance office has grown from three to nearly twenty staff members.
The value of fintechs that specialise in payments, such as My EU Pay, lies in their ability to make moving funds seamless, safe, and compliant across borders, in contrast to traditional transfer methods. Of those three, safety and compliance are arguably the most important. Working in compliance requires a niche and highly technical skill set, meeting KYC (know your customer), KYB (know your business), and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) requirements, while staying up to date with the latest regulatory changes worldwide.
Nevertheless, this work enables businesses to easily make and receive payments, focus on their core offerings, and ultimately grow. Learning these skills takes time, and new compliance officers can certainly benefit from the experience of long-time specialists. For this reason, a dedicated compliance office makes a lot of sense for an ambitious and fast-growing fintech looking to disrupt the payments industry, like My EU Pay.
So, why Derry? Although the city has become better known in recent years for the hit teen sitcom Derry Girls, the KYC and compliance specialist FinTrU opened its office in Derry back in 2018, with a graduate programme launched in 2023. With the arrival of My EU Pay, the city is becoming a hub for fintech.
Beyond graduates, as My EU Pay’s Chief Compliance Officer and Derry native Jason McKinney observes, many professionals in the payments industry have left Derry for Belfast, London and beyond in search of career prospects. Still, they are always on the lookout for an opportunity to return to their families and friends in their beloved hometown. My EU Pay remains excited about drawing new fintech talent to Derry, with plenty of reasons to be optimistic about further growth this year.
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