Founder and CEO – Fire Financial Services

Background

Colm Lyon is the founder and CEO of Fire, a payments processing provider that helps companies get paid, pay out, and automate transactions through integrated access to payment services. With a career spanning almost 40 years, he has built and led payment businesses, driven industry change, and supported the wider business community.

Colm founded Fire in 2010 as part of Realex Payments, an online payment gateway business he started in 2000 with Owen O Byrne, who now leads Product at Fire. Fire was later established as a separate company to support merchants, gateways, and acquirers in launching new products, including open banking payment acceptance, automated payouts, and merchant settlement.

Following the acquisition of Realex Payments by Global Payments in 2015, Fire was spun out as an independent business under Colm’s leadership. Since then, it has focused on serving fintechs and corporate clients that require integrated payment processing as a core part of their operations.

Beyond Fire, Colm has invested in numerous startups and venture funds across Ireland and the UK. He has also been an adjunct professor at University College Cork and continues to serve on the International Advisory Board of the Innovation Academy at University College Dublin.

Industry Leadership

Colm holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Management Science from University College Dublin. With nearly four decades in financial services, including 14 years in banking, he is a recognised payments expert and a visionary in the future of money. Passionate about business, he has played a key role in shaping the fintech landscape in Ireland and the UK.

He is a member of the UK Finance Payments Products and Services Board, Chair of the Digital PSP Group, and a member of the Strategic Participant Group for the New Payments Architecture with Pay.UK. He also served on the JROC Open Banking Future Entity Working Group in the UK. Over the years, he has held several industry leadership roles, including Chairman of the Irish Internet Association, founder of Payments Ireland, and co-founder and Chairman of the Fintech and Payments Association of Ireland.

Awards and recognitions

Colm’s visionary approach and commitment to innovation have not only propelled his own businesses but also played a crucial role in the broader fintech ecosystem in Ireland and abroad. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards and industry accolades, including the Overall Net Visionary Award (Dublin, 2015), Tatler Man of the Year (2015), Industry Achievement of the Year at the Card and Payments Awards (London, 2016), and more recently, the Outstanding Achievement Award at the National Fintech Awards in 2023, recognising his exceptional contributions to building a better financial system in Ireland.

Contact Details

Ainhoa Ayala (Assistant to Colm Lyon): pa@fire.com 

Academic Liaison

Professor Dave Sammon, Department of Accounting, Finance and Information Systems

Mr JB McCarthy, Department of Accounting, Finance and Information Systems