Chinese circling Irish currency firm Fintrax

China UnionPay, a state-owned payments processing- firm based in Shanghai, has emerged as a potential buyer for Galway-founded financial services firm Fintrax.

Fintrax was founded in Ballinahown, Co Galway, in the early 1980s. It provides via subsidiary firms Vat- refund services for tourists buying goods overseas and currency conversion technology to allow for credit card purchases to be made in the buyer’s home currency when abroad.

It was sold to British private equity firm Exponent for around €170m three years ago.