Fire

What Is Fire?

Ask a European founder which fintech to use for a multi-currency business account and most will say Wise, or maybe Revolut Business. Fire rarely comes up, and that's a mistake worth correcting. The company, Fire Financial Services, has operated as a regulated payment institution since 2010 — five years before Wise launched a business product in most markets, and a full decade before Revolut existed at all.

Fire was built by Colm Lyon, who founded Realex Payments in 2000 and sold it to Global Payments for €115 million in 2015. Fire started life inside Realex before Lyon spun it out as an independent business at the point of sale. Lyon funded it largely himself rather than raising venture capital, and Fire has run as a founder-funded, profitable operation ever since.

Today it offers EUR and GBP business accounts, FX conversion, business debit cards, and a payments API for open banking automation. That runs across two regulated entities: Fire-EU, supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland, and Fire-UK, authorised by the FCA as an electronic money institution. It's a narrower product than Wise in currency coverage, but a longer-tenured one — quietly regulated for longer than almost any digital-first competitor in the Irish or UK market.

Key Features

How Do Fire's Business Accounts Actually Work?

A Fire business account gives you dedicated EUR and GBP account details — a real IBAN, not a shared pooled account — plus the ability to hold and convert between the two currencies. Multi-user access lets finance teams assign permissions rather than sharing a single login, and payment request links make collecting customer payments straightforward without a full invoicing system.

Direct debit collection and SEPA/SWIFT transfers cover the standard payment rails a growing business needs. None of this is exotic. What's notable is how transparently it's priced: every fee is published on Fire's site, down to the 12-cent Irish stamp duty on ATM withdrawals.

What Does the Fire Payments API Actually Enable?

This is where Fire differentiates itself from account-only competitors. The API exposes accounts, transfers, cards, FX, and open banking payment initiation as programmable endpoints. A business can build automated payout runs, reconcile transactions without manual CSV exports, or embed payment collection directly into its own product.

Open banking support under PSD2 means Fire can act as a third-party provider, initiating payments and pulling account data with customer consent. That is the same regulatory mechanism letting Plaid-style aggregators connect to bank accounts across Europe. For a company with genuine engineering resources, that API access is worth more than a flashier consumer app.

How Does FX Pricing Compare to Wise?

Fire charges 0.75% on FX conversions, with a minimum fee of €1.25. Wise typically undercuts that on headline percentage terms, especially on larger transfers, and covers dozens more currencies. Where Fire claws some ground back is transparency and predictability. There's no dynamic markup to track, and the published fee schedule doesn't shift by time of day or transfer corridor the way some FX providers' rates can drift.

International debit card usage outside EUR and GBP carries a 2% fee, which is worth knowing before a team member expenses something in US dollars.

Why Does the Dual-Entity Structure Matter Post-Brexit?

Most challenger fintechs picked a lane after Brexit: stay UK-regulated and passport awkwardly into the EU, or relocate EU operations and treat the UK as secondary. Fire runs both natively: Fire-EU operates under the Central Bank of Ireland, and Fire-UK operates under the FCA as a separately licensed electronic money institution. Neither is a bolt-on subsidiary managing the other's overflow — each is a standalone regulated entity.

For a business with customers or suppliers on both sides of the Irish Sea, that structure removes a layer of regulatory uncertainty that pure-EU or pure-UK competitors carry when serving cross-border customers.

Pricing

Fire charges €10 (or £10) per month for a business account, with no setup fee. Bank transfers cost €0.29 each, whether inbound or outbound. SWIFT transfers in cost €12, and adding FX conversion to a SWIFT payment layers another 0.75% on top of the base fee. Direct debits run €0.29. The first debit card is free; each additional card costs €10, plus €0.29 per Chip & PIN, contactless, or online transaction.

Against Wise's no-monthly-fee model, that €10 baseline is a genuine cost difference for low-volume users — a freelancer moving a handful of invoices a month will likely find Wise cheaper. Where Fire earns its fee back is at higher transaction volumes and for businesses that need the API, multi-user permissions, and direct debit collection that a pure consumer-grade transfer app doesn't offer.

There's no free tier. Every account pays the monthly fee from day one, and Fire doesn't publish a discounted rate for early-stage startups the way some competitors do.

EU Compliance & Privacy

Fire-EU is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (Reference C58301) and subject to GDPR as an Irish entity. Customer funds are protected through safeguarding — segregated accounts held at tier-one credit institutions — rather than deposit insurance. That is the standard protection model for payment institutions across the EU, not a Fire-specific limitation.

Because Fire is founder-funded rather than venture-backed, there's no external investor pressure pushing toward aggressive monetisation of customer balances, and no non-EU parent company with a separate data-access regime to navigate. For a business specifically prioritising EU jurisdiction and a long regulatory track record over brand recognition, Fire's 2010 authorisation date is hard to match among independent competitors.

Who It's Best For

EUR/GBP-focused businesses that don't need 40-currency coverage and value a long-established, transparently priced Irish counterparty over a flashier consumer brand.

Technical teams building payment automation. The Fire Payments API is the standout feature here. Businesses that want to programmatically trigger payouts, reconcile transactions, or embed open banking payment initiation get more mileage from it than from most consumer-first competitors.

Companies with genuine UK and Ireland exposure. The dual Fire-EU/Fire-UK structure removes the passporting ambiguity that affects single-entity competitors operating across the post-Brexit border.

Businesses trading in a wide basket of currencies, or freelancers who just want the cheapest possible occasional transfer, will likely find Wise a better fit. Fire's advantages show up at volume and in API-driven workflows, not in a slick mobile-first onboarding flow.

The Verdict

Fire doesn't chase the brand recognition that Wise and Revolut have built over the past decade, and that's precisely why it's underrated. A regulatory track record dating to 2010, a founder-funded balance sheet with no VC pressure, and a genuinely capable payments API make it a serious option for EUR/GBP businesses. That's especially true for teams that want to build on top of the API rather than just click through a dashboard. The €10 monthly fee and narrower currency range are real costs. For businesses that value a long-tenured, transparent, dual-regulated counterparty over a bigger logo, they're costs worth paying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fire GDPR compliant and where is customer data held?

Yes. Fire operates through Fire Financial Services Limited, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, and is subject to GDPR as an Irish/EU entity. Customer funds are safeguarded in segregated accounts at tier-one credit institutions rather than covered by deposit insurance, which is standard practice for e-money and payment institutions across the EU.

How does Fire compare to Wise for business accounts?

Wise supports 40+ currencies with no monthly account fee and a widely recognised brand. Fire covers only EUR and GBP but has been a regulated payment institution since 2010 — five years before Wise launched its business product in most markets. It also pairs its accounts with a payments API built for open banking automation. Wise suits businesses trading in many currencies; Fire suits EUR/GBP-focused businesses that want a founder-funded, long-established Irish counterparty and deeper API control.

Does Fire have a free plan?

No. Fire charges a €10 per month account fee with no free tier, though there are no setup costs and the fee schedule is fully transparent. Per-transaction fees apply on top — €0.29 per bank transfer and 0.75% (minimum €1.25) on FX conversions.

Is Fire a safe and regulated way to hold business funds?

Fire operates two licensed entities: Fire-EU, regulated as a Payment Institution by the Central Bank of Ireland since 2010, and Fire-UK, authorised as an Electronic Money Institution by the FCA. Both safeguard customer funds in segregated accounts at tier-one banks. It is not a bank, so funds aren't covered by deposit guarantee schemes — safeguarding is the applicable protection instead.

What is the Fire Payments API used for?

The Fire Payments API lets businesses integrate accounts, bank transfers, debit cards, FX, and open banking payment initiation directly into their own software or back-office systems. It's aimed at businesses that want to automate payouts, reconcile transactions programmatically, or embed payment collection into their own product rather than using Fire's dashboard manually.