London-based international payments company ePayments has frozen all customer accounts following a review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

In a statement the company said the FCA had identified weaknesses in its anti-money laundering systems and controls, which required “urgent remediation.”

During the suspension of service, customers will be unable to transfer, deal, withdraw or deposit funds, and will be unable to use their ePayments cards.

ePayments apologised for any inconvenience and said they are “working tirelessly with the FCA” to make improvements and reactive accounts as soon as possible.

The company says it has serves more than 1,000,000 individuals and 1,000 companies, ranging from freelancers and major advertising networks, to popular affiliate programs.

AYO.NEWS says:

While efforts to combat money laundering should be supported, yet another financial firm freezing all accounts shows something needs to change. Just as with the Satabank saga in Malta in 2018-19, the damage caused to both businesses and individuals by suspending accounts can be considerable.

The truth is that the vast majority of clients caught up in these actions have done nothing wrong, and have used the service in good faith. The actions of financial regulator are akin to the police impounding a whole freeway of cars, because a handful of people were speeding.

Something has to change, because right now regulators, like the FCA and MFSA, are eroding trust faster than any financial company is.

Let’s hope this issue gets sorted quickly, but in the meantime, if you have any experiences regarding this, please do reach out and let us know.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

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