Fexco

Last updated
Fexco Financial Services
Company typePrivate company
Industry Financial services
Founded1981;43 years ago (1981)
Headquarters,
Area served
Europe, Middle East, Asia, North America, Latin America, Australasia
Key people
  • Brian McCarthy (Founder and chairman) [1]
  • Denis McCarthy (CEO) [2]
Products Foreign exchange
Number of employees
~2,500 [3]
Website www.fexco.com

Fexco is an Ireland-based financial services and financial technology company focusing on bureau de change and payment card services. [4] [5] Its head office is located in Killorglin, County Kerry. As of 2019, Fexco reports it has more than 2,500 staff [3] and of these, 1,200 are based in Ireland, [6] with other staff in 29 countries worldwide, including the UK, Spain, New Zealand, [7] United States, Middle East [8] and Asia. [9]

Contents

History

Fexco was set up in 1981 by Brian McCarthy, originally to provide bureau de change services to the Irish market. [1] McCarthy, now acting as Fexco chairman, is also chairman of the Irish Prisons Board. [10]

Former Tánaiste Dick Spring was appointed as an executive vice-chairman of Fexco in 2002. [11]

As of 2009, services offered by Fexco included prize bonds, dynamic currency conversion and related customer services. [12]

In 2010, Fexco acquired 75% of Goodbody Stockbrokers for a reported bargain price of €24 million with the management take the remaining 25% stake in the business. [13] [14] [15] [16] The Financial Times commented that the modest price tag placed on Ireland’s oldest stockbroker and "one-time bastion of Ireland's Protestant business elite" was just another measure of the dramatic decline of the Irish economy. [17] [18]

In February 2015, Denis McCarthy was appointed chief executive officer of Fexco. [19] McCarthy had been active chief executive since Gavin O'Neill departed the company in 2014. [19] The Currency Exchange Corporation was acquired by Fexco in 2016. [20]

In 2018, Fexco turned down a deal to sell Goodbody to a Chinese consortium for €150 million. [21] In November 2019, it was announced that Goodbody could to be sold to Bank of China for approximately €150 million, [22] however by July 2020 it was reported that Bank of China was withdrawing from this acquisition citing uncertainty over the Coronavirus pandemic. [23] [24] In March 2021, AIB confirmed that it had agreed to acquire Goodbody Stockbrokers for €138 million. [25]

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