Square posts job openings for likely European expansion

(Reuters) – U.S. mobile payments company Square Inc posted three new job openings in Europe on Thursday, signaling it is moving closer to ramping up operations in the region through an initial venture in Britain.

San Francisco-based Square, which makes a card reader that turns a mobile phone into a payment terminal, hopes to seize on the region’s growth of small businesses that are quickly adopting new technology.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2033721,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"bots,business,commerce,entrepreneur,mobile,","session":"B"}']

Square posted three openings on the job board Indeed.com. It is seeking a compliance analyst and communications manager, both based in London, and a technical customer support representative, based in Dublin.

A Square spokeswoman declined to comment on the job postings.

Square began beta testing of its payments system in London in June to prepare for an initial launch in Britain, Reuters reported last month. The company incorporated a business called Squareup Europe Ltd in Britain, where its payments processing technology is already being used by merchants.

“We do view it as a very interesting market,” Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said on a recent call with investors when asked about the UK.

Previously, Square’s payments service had only been available in the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia.

The position in Dublin indicates that Square has its sights set beyond the UK. Dublin has a high density of tech talent — companies including Alphabet Inc’s Google and software analytics company New Relic have offices there — making it appealing for a business like Square, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking.

Square will compete with established European players such as Sweden’s iZettle and SumUp in London.

Competitor Apple Pay launched in the UK last year and has partnerships with banks across Europe. Google’s Android Pay is also in the UK.

[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2033721,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"bots,business,commerce,entrepreneur,mobile,","session":"B"}']

Gearing up for its UK operation, Square in May added Paul Deighton to its board of directors. Deighton, a Conservative member of the upper House of Lords, served as Britain’s commercial secretary to the Treasury until last year.

Square, whose chief Dorsey is also the CEO of Twitter Inc, has expanded since its 2009 founding to offer an array of services for businesses such as point-of-sale registers, invoice software and loans.

The company this month reported a 41.5 percent jump in revenue and 42 percent growth in payments processed on its system for the second quarter. However, it is still unprofitable with a loss of more than $27 million for the three-month period.

(Reporting by Heather Somerville in San Francisco, additional reporting by Mia Shanley in Stockholm; Editing by Tom Brown)

[aditude-amp id="medium2" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2033721,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"bots,business,commerce,entrepreneur,mobile,","session":"B"}']