ePayments Systems Ltd, a UK certified digital money firm suspended its operations following a lapse with the Anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines laid down by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
According to the announcement on their website, the company gave a few details on the regulatory requirements that led to customer accounts being frozen. The company also sent an email to its clients explaining the same.
Reportedly, before the freeze, the firm claimed it had signed one million users. All ePayments accounts are now frozen with the firm also banned from opening new accounts.
The announcement read:
“On February 11, 2020, ePayments Systems Limited (‘ePayments’) agreed with the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) to suspend all activity on its customer accounts. This decision was taken following a review, by the FCA, of ePayments anti-money laundering systems and controls, which identified a weakness that required remediation.”
The regulator told ePayments Systems to make the necessary changes before they can resume operation. Currently, clients are not able to trading, transfer, withdraw or deposit funds using the platform. Clients will also no longer be able to use their ePayments cards.
ePayments Systems assured its clients that they are doing all they can to resolve the matter. The firm added:
“We know this will be a very frustrating time for our customers. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and are working tirelessly with the FCA to ensure improvements are made, and accounts can be reactivated as soon as possible. During this improvement process, we want to assure customers that their funds are being safeguarded as normal.”
It is not yet clear what exactly caused the authorities o freeze ePayments’ accounts, mainly because all customers are requires to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines and provide ID information before creating their account.
Since its launch in 2015, ePayments has been providing various services, including prepaid cards, issuing virtual accounts with IBAN, issuing e-money, processing payments, and handling electronic money wallets throughout the European Union.
