Emma RadmoreThe FCA has varied the authorisation of Paywiser Limited, an EMI which provides e-wallet payment accounts and debit card services to retail and corporate customers. It found that the firm was providing services to crypto-firms on the FCA Warning List and had provided unregistered crypto services after informing the FCA that it was exiting the crypto sector. It found the firm’s responses to protracted requests unsatisfactory and concluded that:
- the firm may not have effective procedures to identify, monitor, manage and report any risks to which it might be exposed, nor adequate risk control mechanisms; and
- the firm appeared to be failing to meet several requirements of the regulatory system, including that its sole shareholder was not a fit and proper person, in carrying on unregistered crypto business the firm was breaching both the MLRs and the EMRs and it had not been open and cooperative with the FCA.
As a result, the FCA has imposed a requirement that the firm:
- must not provide any regulated emoney or payment services to existing customers or onboard new customers without the FCA’s consent;
- would notify all customers and relevant third parties of the imposition of the requirements and place notices prominently on its website and on its customer portal so they would be seen by any client logging in, and would provide the FCA with copies of all relevant notices;
- would provide the FCA weekly with bank statements;
- must secure all books and records and keep them and all information and systems in a form that they could be provided promptly on request by the FCA; and
- must not carry on any cryptoasset business for which it would require registration.