FCA reverses Wirecard UK freeze

The UK financial services regulator has reversed its Friday decision to suspend the activities of Wirecard Card Solutions Limited, an action which precipitated the freezing of up to 60 prepaid card services that use Wirecard to process payments.

In a statement on its website, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that the freeze would lift at 00.01 UK time on Tuesday 30 June.

“On 29 June 2020, the FCA provided written consent to allow Wirecard to resume issuing e-money and providing payment services,” the regulator said.

“The primary objective of these requirements was to protect the electronic money funds of consumers in safeguarded accounts.  It also had the effect of preventing consumers from withdrawing and making payments with those funds.”

“The FCA’s consent means that Wirecard can now resume electronic money and payment services to its customers and customers can now, or very shortly, use their cards as usual.”

The FCA’s decision will come as a relief to the millions of users of prepaid debit cards who had lost access to their money as a result of last week’s insolvency of Wirecard AG, the parent company of Wirecard Card Solutions Limited.

Earlier today, a UK payments trade body said the FCA’s decision to freeze Wirecard’s UK activities threatened to cause wider damage to the financial technology sector, employment and the economy.

Sign up here for our monthly newsletter

Click here for a full list of episodes of the New Money Review podcast: the future of money in 30 minutes

Comments are closed.