UK Regulator Lifts Restrictions On Wirecard
- The firm’s U.K. subsidiary was ordered to cease all of its regulated activities last Friday.
- Wirecard now has a written consent to resume operations and is expecting all of its cards to be operational by 1 July.
Wirecard AG partner booth during day two of Web Summit 2018 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal on 7 November, 2018. Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Sportsfile
Crypto debit cards issued by Wirecard are once again usable, following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) decision to allow the company to resume “regulated activity”, the financial regulator said in a press release on 29 June.
According to the announcement, the FCA has already provided Wirecard’s U.K. subsidiary, Wirecard Card Solutions, with a written consent to resume its regulated activity, though some restrictions still remain in place. As per the notice, some of the firm’s restrictions were lifted on 30 June, which should be the day all crypto debit cards issued by it are re-enabled, though there might be a slight delay for some customers.
Wirecard Card Solutions said in a statement:
“There may be a delay before all card programmes are fully operational, so some customers could find themselves unable to transact immediately but we anticipate this lasting no longer than 24 hours. We apologise for the inconvenience to our valued customers that the temporary suspension caused.”
It all started on 18 June, when an audit from Big Four accounting company EY revealed that Wirecard was missing $2.1 billion from its accounts, which forced the firm to open insolvency proceedings on 25 June, which is usually the first step to declaring bankruptcy. In order to protect the customers’ funds, the FCA ordered the firm’s U.K. subsidiary to cease all of its regulated activities and to not dispose of any of its funds.
The firm’s former CEO, Markus Braun, has also been arrested by German authorities, who speculate that the company’s management was running a fraud.
The same day the firm was allowed to resume its regulated activity, its North America unit announced it was seeking a new buyer. Though Wirecard acquired the business in 2016 from Citigroup, it has remained “a self-sustaining entity that is substantially autonomous from Wirecard AG”.
- The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority continues its crackdown on crypto ATMs in the country, and has disrupted a total of 26 machines since the start of the year.
- The regulator warned the public back in March 2022 that all crypto ATMs in the country were operating illegally, and issued a “shut down or face further action” order.
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- Unnamed sourced told the Financial Times that the U.K. Treasury was preparing new rules that would give the FCA broader powers over the crypto market.
- The regulations will allow the FCA to monitor and limit operations and advertising of crypto companies, as well as restrict crypto sales in the U.K. from foreign companies.
- The Financial Conduct Authority has warned investors that crypto exchange FTX “may be providing financial services without authorization” in the U.K..
- A spokesperson for FTX said the exchange believed it was impersonated by a scammer, as the phone numbers provided by the FCA were not connected to it.