TSYS to axe 120 Invest NI-supported jobs in move to US and Philippines

  • US card processing firm TSYS (formerly known as Cayan) is planning to axe around 120 jobs in Northern Ireland and move the roles to the States and the Philippines.

    The company said it planned to move the Derry and Belfast-based positions following a worldwide review of the business after it merged with US giant Global Payments Inc in 2020.

    The news comes just three years after TSYS announced 170 new customer service roles in Belfast, with Invest NI offering the US firm £680,000 of public funding for the expansion.

    Originally Cayan, the organisation set up an engineering division in Northern Ireland during 2013, which the firm maintains will remain, along with numerous roles including information security and IT support.

    In December 2017, with the help of Invest NI it announced plans to increase its NI staff numbers to 240 by 2019.

    At the time of this announcement, 100 jobs were already in place.

    The firm was fully acquired by Total System Services Inc (TSYS) shortly after this.

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    The Irish News reported that Invest NI did not comment when asked if it will be able to recover any of the employment grant support paid to TSYS.

    The newspaper added that a spokesperson for the economic support body said: “If a company creates jobs but does not maintain them for the agreed period of time as set out in the letter of offer, Invest NI will determine whether clawback is due.

    “Factors such as length of time the jobs were in place, and the economic return to NI are some of the things considered when determining any clawback.”

    TSYS/Global Payments told staff that the business had decided to consolidate customer service and call centre operations into fewer and “more strategic sites” based in the US and Manilla – thus being relocated from bases in Belfast’s City Quays and Derry’s Ebrington Square.

    The Irish News understands TSYS launched a consultation process with staff in October. Most of its workforce have been working from home since March and most redundancies are believed to occur in March and April.

    They are thought to relate to those created as part of the Invest NI-backed Merchant Services Support division.

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    TSYS/Global Payments Inc did not respond to a request for comment.

    In a document reportedly seen by The Irish News, the company confirmed its proposal seeks to “cease all call centre jobs/operations in Belfast and Foyle… This means all employees working in the call centres and associated functions in Northern Ireland will be impacted by the proposals”.

    It continues: “This review was undertaken to help us establish an ideal operating structure, maximize efficiencies and scale operations and will help to identify new opportunities for improving service levels and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction levels.”

    In December, TSYS’ “legacy” merchant business (relating to Cayan) was targeted in a ransomware attack and the business informed its NI staff that their personal data had likely been compromised.

    Although the firm said no data relating to customer card transactions had been impacted, it admitted that names, addresses, national insurance numbers and bank details of staff may have been compromised.

    No one is yet aware of any harm caused by the breach but TSYS said the attackers had made some of the data available on the internet and threatened to disclose more.

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    About the author

    Niamh is a Sync NI writer with a previous background of working in FinTech and financial crime. She has a special interest in sports and emerging technologies. To connect with Niamh, feel free to send her an email or connect on Twitter.

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