The FCA is set to lift restrictions on new customer onboarding at UK fintech firm Modulr, contingent upon prior notification.
At the beginning of October 2023, the FCA issued a restriction for the company, preventing it from bringing on new partner clients, including agents and distributors utilizing its payments infrastructure for cards and accounts. Modulr opted to temporarily halt onboarding specific new customer segments in the UK, in light of numerous forthcoming UK regulations for 2023 and 2024. These include changes like the new UK consumer duty, updates to push payment fraud reimbursement, and a prohibition on incentive marketing for high-risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.
Modulr provides payments infrastructure for over 200 prominent clients, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage, and BrightPay, currently processing an annual transaction value exceeding £100 billion.
In its announcement regarding the lifting of the ban, the FCA noted, “The firm has agreed with the Authority that it will not onboard any new agent and/or distributor without providing prior written notification to the Authority at least 10 business days in advance.”
Modulr stated, “After a temporary pause in onboarding new Agent & Distributor (A&D) Partners in the UK, we have introduced several enhancements to our A&D Partner onboarding and oversight processes.
“Having implemented these changes and conducted extensive internal and external testing and assurance, we have reached an agreement with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to resume onboarding new A&D Partners, subject to advanced notice for each partner.”