Payrnet, has just had its Electronic Money licence revoked

[kriyazen]

This will effect 50+ EMI who used Payrnet as their provider. e. g, Wamo. At the moment funds are safeguarded in properly designated accounts at the Bank of Lithuania.

The Bank of Lithuania website has published more information about this decision here:



https://www.lb.lt/en/news/licence-of-uab-payrnet-revoked-for-serious-violations-bankruptcy-proceedings-to-be-initiated

 

[deepspeculator]

Is there a list of other affected EMIs, except Wamo?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Cryptopay is one of the EMIs affected

 

[fintechwizard]

See below, i extracted the list of AGENTS from the licence register :
Full list of agents using PayrNet licence in Lithuania :

BigeDirect S.A., BPS CYP LIMITED,Clear Currency Europe Limited,CPS Solutions OÜ,Digital Fiat OU,DLTify UAB,Easy Pay Educa Limited,Ela Expeditions IE Limited,ELYPS SA,Fintech Operations OÜ,FirePay Merchant Services,Foris MT Limited,IFX Payments Europe sp. z o.o.,LinkCy Payment Service Provider UAB,Luxon EU ApS,Metallicus UAB,MF TEL,Oktopay Connect LTD,Opt1mize Technologies Limited,ORO PAY LTD,Oval Money (Europe) Limited,Paygoo AS,PaygooAB,Paymium Financial Services France,PAYSME EUROPE LIMITED,Paywho, UAB,Penrose Digital Ltd,PL Gutscheinsysteme GmbH,Plum Fintech CY Limited,Q-Express Online Oy,Rational Foreign Exchange EU, UAB,Regent EU UAB,Revuto OÜ,RG Financial Ltd,Simpled Card Exploitatie B.V.,SimpledCard GmbH,Sync.Money Lithuania, UAB,To,Streamflow EAD,Sureswipe E.M.I. Plc,The Gift Card Company Ltd.,Trustshare UAB,UAB 'Creditco',UAB 'deVere E-Money',UAB Juni Technology,UAB MIR Lithuania,UAB Wirex,UAB Zeply LT,Wamo Solutions Limited,wyer B.V.,Woli Services Ltd

Full list of agents using PayrNet licence in UK :
A&B General (UK) Ltd,Acquired Limited,BeAccount Ltd,Blockthree Payments Limited,Chipper Technologies (UK) Limited,Cledara Limited,EGALITI LTD,ELA EXPEDITIONS UK LTD,Elyps S.A,FAST PAYE LTD,Finadvant Limited,Flutterwave UK limited,FTFT UK LTD,Gosolo Financial Limited,HI55 Ventures Limited,Incendia Card Solutions Limited,KIXY LTD,MASLIFE LTD,MYTALU LTD,NASH EXCHANGE LTD,Neat Global Limited,Niyah Ltd,Novus World LTD,Nufin GMBH,OKTOPAY UK LIMITED,Opt1mize Technologies Limited,PAYAABLE LTD,Paycaptain Payroll Solutions Limited,Payhawk Financial Services Ltd,Payrow Payment Systems Limited,Payscanner Ltd,Paytriot Ltd,Penrose Digital Limited,Plum Fintech Limited,Pockit Limited,Rational Foreign Exchange Limited,Regent Foreign Exchange Limited,Rewire EU B.V.,ROOTSPACE AI LTD,Sonovate Ltd,Statrys UK Limited,Streamflow EEOOD,Tallymoney Ltd,Trustshare Limited,Wagestream Ltd,Wamo.Io Ltd,XCEL INC Limited,ZAZUU HQ LTD,ZEN DIGITAL PAYMENTS LTD

Real question is : how long before FCA takes the same decision for their UK license !

 

[wellington]

See below, i extracted the list of AGENTS from the licence register :
Full list of agents using PayrNet licence in Lithuania :

BigeDirect S.A., BPS CYP LIMITED,Clear Currency Europe Limited,CPS Solutions OÜ,Digital Fiat OU,DLTify UAB,Easy Pay Educa Limited,Ela Expeditions IE Limited,ELYPS SA,Fintech Operations OÜ,FirePay Merchant Services,Foris MT Limited,IFX Payments Europe sp. z o.o.,LinkCy Payment Service Provider UAB,Luxon EU ApS,Metallicus UAB,MF TEL,Oktopay Connect LTD,Opt1mize Technologies Limited,ORO PAY LTD,Oval Money (Europe) Limited,Paygoo AS,PaygooAB,Paymium Financial Services France,PAYSME EUROPE LIMITED,Paywho, UAB,Penrose Digital Ltd,PL Gutscheinsysteme GmbH,Plum Fintech CY Limited,Q-Express Online Oy,Rational Foreign Exchange EU, UAB,Regent EU UAB,Revuto OÜ,RG Financial Ltd,Simpled Card Exploitatie B.V.,SimpledCard GmbH,Sync.Money Lithuania, UAB,To,Streamflow EAD,Sureswipe E.M.I. Plc,The Gift Card Company Ltd.,Trustshare UAB,UAB 'Creditco',UAB 'deVere E-Money',UAB Juni Technology,UAB MIR Lithuania,UAB Wirex,UAB Zeply LT,Wamo Solutions Limited,wyer B.V.,Woli Services Ltd

Full list of agents using PayrNet licence in UK :
A&B General (UK) Ltd,Acquired Limited,BeAccount Ltd,Blockthree Payments Limited,Chipper Technologies (UK) Limited,Cledara Limited,EGALITI LTD,ELA EXPEDITIONS UK LTD,Elyps S.A,FAST PAYE LTD,Finadvant Limited,Flutterwave UK limited,FTFT UK LTD,Gosolo Financial Limited,HI55 Ventures Limited,Incendia Card Solutions Limited,KIXY LTD,MASLIFE LTD,MYTALU LTD,NASH EXCHANGE LTD,Neat Global Limited,Niyah Ltd,Novus World LTD,Nufin GMBH,OKTOPAY UK LIMITED,Opt1mize Technologies Limited,PAYAABLE LTD,Paycaptain Payroll Solutions Limited,Payhawk Financial Services Ltd,Payrow Payment Systems Limited,Payscanner Ltd,Paytriot Ltd,Penrose Digital Limited,Plum Fintech Limited,Pockit Limited,Rational Foreign Exchange Limited,Regent Foreign Exchange Limited,Rewire EU B.V.,ROOTSPACE AI LTD,Sonovate Ltd,Statrys UK Limited,Streamflow EEOOD,Tallymoney Ltd,Trustshare Limited,Wagestream Ltd,Wamo.Io Ltd,XCEL INC Limited,ZAZUU HQ LTD,ZEN DIGITAL PAYMENTS LTD

Real question is : how long before FCA takes the same decision for their UK license !

Never heard of any of these listed companies.

 

[deepspeculator]

Thanks for the list, fortunately I'm safe, as no of my EMIs is there. I had account in Wamo (since the time when I applied to multiple EMIs when forming some company), but kept it nearly empty, as they seemed shady (nearly zero KYC, lacking features [e.g. did not provide dedicated details to accept swift, only their common account for many wamo users] and general problems with uptime).
BTW:
This is the message that Wamo sent around an hour ago:

We need to inform you with a matter of urgency that our Partner Bank, UAB Payrnet, has just had its Electronic Money licence revoked by the Bank of Lithuania with immediate effect. This means that from this moment, they can no longer provide wamo and its users with payment services.

We want to reassure you that your funds are safeguarded in properly designated accounts at the Bank of Lithuania. At the moment however, your funds cannot be moved as the Regulator wants to ensure that they are carefully protected and safeguarded.

The Bank of Lithuania website has published more information about this decision here:
(link)

We are now working closely with the Regulator to understand the steps we need to take to migrate your funds to a very carefully selected partner (Modulr, a European Electronic Money Institution) as fast as possible, to minimise disruption to you and your customers. We will provide a further update as soon as we get information about these steps.

Until that time:

LT IBANs and cards issued via UAB Payrnet are no longer working
SEPA, FX and SWIFT transactions to and from LT IBANs are being declined
Sending and receiving money to and from LT IBAN accounts will not work
You will not be able to issue new LT IBANs or create new cards.

Please note that: GB IBAN accounts, in GBP, are still working with Faster Payments transfers

We thank you for your support and we will update you as soon as we have more information to help you with this transition.

Our support team and everyone at wamo will be making ourselves available 24/7 until this is resolved. Please reach out to us via email at (link) or via our live chat on our website and in-app if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Warm regards,
Team wamo

 

[Forester]

This will effect 50+ EMI who used Payrnet as their provider. e. g, Wamo. At the moment funds are safeguarded in properly designated accounts at the Bank of Lithuania.

The Bank of Lithuania website has published more information about this decision here:



https://www.lb.lt/en/news/licence-of-uab-payrnet-revoked-for-serious-violations-bankruptcy-proceedings-to-be-initiated

Thanks for sharing.

See below, i extracted the list of AGENTS from the licence register :
Full list of agents using PayrNet licence in Lithuania :

BigeDirect S.A., BPS CYP LIMITED,Clear Currency Europe Limited,CPS Solutions OÜ,Digital Fiat OU,DLTify UAB,Easy Pay Educa Limited,Ela Expeditions IE Limited,ELYPS SA,Fintech Operations OÜ,FirePay Merchant Services,Foris MT Limited,IFX Payments Europe sp. z o.o.,LinkCy Payment Service Provider UAB,Luxon EU ApS,Metallicus UAB,MF TEL,Oktopay Connect LTD,Opt1mize Technologies Limited,ORO PAY LTD,Oval Money (Europe) Limited,Paygoo AS,PaygooAB,Paymium Financial Services France,PAYSME EUROPE LIMITED,Paywho, UAB,Penrose Digital Ltd,PL Gutscheinsysteme GmbH,Plum Fintech CY Limited,Q-Express Online Oy,Rational Foreign Exchange EU, UAB,Regent EU UAB,Revuto OÜ,RG Financial Ltd,Simpled Card Exploitatie B.V.,SimpledCard GmbH,Sync.Money Lithuania, UAB,To,Streamflow EAD,Sureswipe E.M.I. Plc,The Gift Card Company Ltd.,Trustshare UAB,UAB 'Creditco',UAB 'deVere E-Money',UAB Juni Technology,UAB MIR Lithuania,UAB Wirex,UAB Zeply LT,Wamo Solutions Limited,wyer B.V.,Woli Services Ltd

Full list of agents using PayrNet licence in UK :
A&B General (UK) Ltd,Acquired Limited,BeAccount Ltd,Blockthree Payments Limited,Chipper Technologies (UK) Limited,Cledara Limited,EGALITI LTD,ELA EXPEDITIONS UK LTD,Elyps S.A,FAST PAYE LTD,Finadvant Limited,Flutterwave UK limited,FTFT UK LTD,Gosolo Financial Limited,HI55 Ventures Limited,Incendia Card Solutions Limited,KIXY LTD,MASLIFE LTD,MYTALU LTD,NASH EXCHANGE LTD,Neat Global Limited,Niyah Ltd,Novus World LTD,Nufin GMBH,OKTOPAY UK LIMITED,Opt1mize Technologies Limited,PAYAABLE LTD,Paycaptain Payroll Solutions Limited,Payhawk Financial Services Ltd,Payrow Payment Systems Limited,Payscanner Ltd,Paytriot Ltd,Penrose Digital Limited,Plum Fintech Limited,Pockit Limited,Rational Foreign Exchange Limited,Regent Foreign Exchange Limited,Rewire EU B.V.,ROOTSPACE AI LTD,Sonovate Ltd,Statrys UK Limited,Streamflow EEOOD,Tallymoney Ltd,Trustshare Limited,Wagestream Ltd,Wamo.Io Ltd,XCEL INC Limited,ZAZUU HQ LTD,ZEN DIGITAL PAYMENTS LTD

Real question is : how long before FCA takes the same decision for their UK license !

Really helpful, thanks for sharing.

Never heard of any of these listed companies.

Well, sometimes they are perhaps known under their trading name, as CPS Solutions OÜ aka Cryptopay.

FMPOV, especially at the FCA list I see some notable members:
Gosolo Financial Limited
Neat Global Limited
Statrys UK Limited (!)
(+ Wamo)
Fortunately, ZEN DIGITAL PAYMENTS LTD has nothing common with ZEN.COM (ZEN.COM possess the own licence in LT as well as in the UK).

Thanks for the list, fortunately I'm safe, as no of my EMIs is there. I had account in Wamo (since the time when I applied to multiple EMIs when forming some company), but kept it nearly empty, as they seemed shady (nearly zero KYC, lacking features [e.g. did not provide dedicated details to accept swift, only their common account for many wamo users] and general problems with uptime).
BTW:
This is the message that Wamo sent around an hour ago:

From what I see, guys from Wamo act accordingly; respect.

And last but not least, this https://www.lb.lt/en/news/licence-o...ations-bankruptcy-proceedings-to-be-initiated is really an interesting reading. Recommendable .
(Hint: Payrnet UAB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Railsr, formerly Railsbank. And for Railsr – e.g. here African payments giant Flutterwave vies to buy British fintech Railsr and here Railsr, the UK embedded fintech once valued at nearly $1B, goes into bankruptcy protection under new consortium owner.)

 

[Martin Everson]

Yikes....whats a mess.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

Neat is a part of Rapyd now, so I guess former Neat customers wont be affected

I dont know about Statrys? Will it only be some balances that is affected like Eur?

 

[Martin Everson]

Real question is : how long before FCA takes the same decision for their UK license !

Good question. Seems ok for now

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000003JiNqpAAF
But accounts are overdue according to companies house.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09883437

 

[Sols]

A lot of Payrnet agents have already moved on to other providers. The damage from this is severe but don't take the list of Payrnet agents as a list of companies no longer operational. Check their websites and you'll see several don't say they are agents of Payrnet anymore but of someone else instead.

 

[Martin Everson]

This update relates to our planned change from Payrnet (current EEA card issuer) to Transact Payments Malta Limited (new EEA card issuer)​ Hi Wirexer, As we communicated previously, Wirex is planning improvements to our debit card functionality including Apple Pay and Google Pay. As part of these improvements we have already begun the process changing the current card partner. Recently our current card partner has experienced problems and this is causing an interruption in the debit card service for EEA customers. All other services of Wirex are unaffected. As a result of UAB Payrnet removing its service: only your debit cards may not function for a period of time – no other Wirex services are impacted. What do I need to do? Nothing right now, but we are notifying you in case there may be issues when you try and use your card. We are aware of the issues and are working hard to resolve them. The issues are caused by UAB Payrnet, as our card partner, and are not due to any problems within Wirex. Will I be able to access my funds? Yes. This has no impact on your ability to access your funds through any other Wirex means, such as or our IBAN service, or via transfer and purchase of cryptocurrencies on the Wirex app. Your funds are not affected, and they are not at risk by these issues. The issues are caused by our card partner and are not due to any problems within Wirex. Is the change to new debit card partner affected? No, this does not change our plan to move to Transact Payments Malta Limited as our new partner, and unlocking new features for our card service. However, we are speeding up our plans and are moving to this new card partner as fast as possible to return and enhance your debit card functionality. When will this be fixed? We are working hard with the existing card partner and with Transact Payments Malta Limited, as our new card partner, to get this fixed as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience while we do this and will update you again as soon as it gets back to normal.

Thank you, The Wirex Team

 

[Forester]

A lot of Payrnet agents have already moved on to other providers. The damage from this is severe but don't take the list of Payrnet agents as a list of companies no longer operational. Check their websites and you'll see several don't say they are agents of Payrnet anymore but of someone else instead.

Yes, probably.

Neat is a part of Rapyd now, so I guess former Neat customers wont be affected

Yes, may be. (I must admit I do not understand well how the transition from Neat service under Rapyd umbrella was performed; I have not checked it.)

I dont know about Statrys? Will it only be some balances that is affected like Eur?

Definitely it concerns some balances only, thein main business is HK-licensed. Nevertheless, Statrys UK did not change the provider; I checked it last week and they still claimed they were with Parnet.

​

​ This update relates to our planned change from Payrnet (current EEA card issuer) to Transact Payments Malta Limited (new EEA card issuer)​ Hi Wirexer, As we communicated previously, Wirex is planning improvements to our debit card functionality including Apple Pay and Google Pay. As part of these improvements we have already begun the process changing the current card partner. Recently our current card partner has experienced problems and this is causing an interruption in the debit card service for EEA customers. All other services of Wirex are unaffected. As a result of UAB Payrnet removing its service: only your debit cards may not function for a period of time – no other Wirex services are impacted. What do I need to do? Nothing right now, but we are notifying you in case there may be issues when you try and use your card. We are aware of the issues and are working hard to resolve them. The issues are caused by UAB Payrnet, as our card partner, and are not due to any problems within Wirex. Will I be able to access my funds? Yes. This has no impact on your ability to access your funds through any other Wirex means, such as or our IBAN service, or via transfer and purchase of cryptocurrencies on the Wirex app. Your funds are not affected, and they are not at risk by these issues. The issues are caused by our card partner and are not due to any problems within Wirex. Is the change to new debit card partner affected? No, this does not change our plan to move to Transact Payments Malta Limited as our new partner, and unlocking new features for our card service. However, we are speeding up our plans and are moving to this new card partner as fast as possible to return and enhance your debit card functionality. When will this be fixed? We are working hard with the existing card partner and with Transact Payments Malta Limited, as our new card partner, to get this fixed as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience while we do this and will update you again as soon as it gets back to normal.

Good.

 

[Martin Everson]

From what I understand of wirex situation only EU Card customers are affected.

------------------------

Investigating - Affected service: Card operations

Affected region: EEA

Description: We're currently experiencing degraded performance with card processing in the European Economic Area (EEA). Card processing in the UK, APAC, and USA are unaffected and operating normally. Our team is actively working to resolve this issue. Updates to follow. Thank you for your patience.
Jun 23, 2023 - 08:54 UTC
--------------------------------

 

[Simon4466]

The reasons for revoking the license seem rather extreme never would have expected a company such as railsr to operate in such a manner.

Here are some quotes:

....During the inspection period, the institution provided financial services through 90 intermediaries, distributors or other legal entities distributing the institution’s financial services. In most cases, the institution would establish a business relationship with them without due diligence and without assessing their suitability, reputation and risk...

The assessment of the money laundering and terrorist financing risk of the institution’s clients was inadequate and, in some cases, not performed at all.

...engaged in business relationships with clients at high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing without applying enhanced client due diligence

did not have all the data on the number of clients (end users) using its services: it did not control the data on the payment transactions of end users and was unable to determine the exact amount of end-user funds.

And possibly the most interesting:

During the inspection period, the institution failed to properly safeguard end user funds: instead of keeping the funds in a dedicated account of a credit institution or central bank, it kept funds at another electronic money institution.

After assessing the institution’s financial position, the Bank of Lithuania found that the liabilities currently held by the institution exceeded its assets, therefore it is insolvent and there is no evidence that the situation could change in the near future.

How could such a company operate in this manner while being one of the most used BAAS suppliers in the industry? It really blows my mind.

 

[Forester]

From what I understand of wirex situation only EU Card customers are affected.

Yes, I agree. It is communicated clearly even in the previous message that you quoted. (To be exact, they speak about EEA, not about EU; but I understand what you – extremely probably – mean )

The reasons for revoking the license seem rather extreme never would have expected a company such as railsr to operate in such a manner.


How could such a company operate in this manner while being one of the most used BAAS suppliers in the industry? It really blows my mind.

Well... The first answer that comes to my mind is: “It happened in one of post-USSR countries. There always was everything possible and it has not changed very much, regardless of 30 years. (So I really do not trust the environment there very much and I am really careful when doing any business there.)”. Nevertheless, however I consider the previous adequate, rememeber such cases like Enron or Lehman Brothers or Boeing 737 Max or ...
Make your own conclusion.

I dont know about Statrys? Will it only be some balances that is affected like Eur?

Definitely it concerns some balances only, thein main business is HK-licensed. Nevertheless, Statrys UK did not change the provider; I checked it last week and they still claimed they were with Parnet.

BTW, Statrys seems to face some serious problem now – maybe related and maybe not; see here Singapore and Hong Kong corporate incorporation providers and further.

 

[expatasia]

WAMO`s GB EURO accounts don`t work from today......what a f...... mess.

 

[Forester]

WAMO`s GB EURO accounts don`t work from today......what a f...... mess.

Totally understandable. They were definitely handled by Payrnet. (Of course this is a huge problem.)

 

[Kasper]

WAMO`s GB EURO accounts don`t work from today......what a f...... mess.

Wamo said they would transfer money to another bank. But as I know, in the case of license revocation Payrnet must go through bankruptcy and their customers (in this case wamo) will not soon be able to transfer money to another bank or payment system. How soon will they transfer the funds and will we have access to them again?

 

[expatasia]

Wamo said they would transfer money to another bank. But as I know, in the case of license revocation Payrnet must go through bankruptcy and their customers (in this case wamo) will not soon be able to transfer money to another bank or payment system. How soon will they transfer the funds and will we have access to them again?

THEY WROTE THIS TODAY:

We are taking steps to migrate the transfer of your funds to a carefully selected partner (Modulr, a European Electronic Money Institution) as fast as possible, to minimise disruption to you and your customers. We will provide a further update as soon as we get information about these steps.

BUT NO TIMELINE....SO YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE.