On June 4, 2026, a blockbuster news caused waves in the British payment industry.
The British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a regulatory order to the cross-border payment company EMI licensed institution Euro Exchange Securities UK Limited (EES), requiring the institution to cease all regulated electronic money and payment service businesses.
At the same time, after a regulatory application, the British court ruled to appoint an interim administrator to fully take over the affairs of EES.
FCA made it clear that regulators have serious compliance concerns about EES’s business model, and that the company lurks major financial crime risks.
On the one hand, there are systemic loopholes in the company’s financial crime prevention and control system and risk protection mechanism, which prevent it from effectively preventing and responding to various financial risks; on the other hand, there are obvious flaws in the company’s equity structure and internal governance mechanism, and the superposition of multiple risks has had a negative impact on consumer rights and the credibility of the financial market.
This personnel appointment and removal is carried out in accordance with the “Bankruptcy Regulations of Payment and Electronic Money Institutions 2021”.
The court appointed Duncan Perring and James Bennett of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited as interim administrators.
Both interim administrators are members of the Court’s civil service and their core responsibility is to oversee all EES operations during the transition period.
The regulatory custody period ends on June 11, 2026, the day of the second court hearing, and the subsequent disposition results will be further determined during the court hearing.
According to data, EES parent company Euro Exchange was established in 2007 and has achieved a series of important achievements in the payment field.
It obtained the British payment institution license in 2016, upgraded its electronic money qualification in 2018, and became a master member institution of MasterCard in 2021. In 2022, the group’s revenue exceeded US$1 billion.
However, it is now in trouble due to compliance issues.
This regulatory penalty reflects the general trend of compliance rectification in the British payment industry.
In the past decade, the UK has approved a large number of electronic money payment institutions. However, FCA inspections in recent years have found that a large number of institutions lack internal control compliance and risk control, and some institutions pose a security threat to consumers.
Since then, supervision has comprehensively tightened industry standards and implemented new auditing rules. This case of shutting down EES will further force British EMI payment institutions to make up for their shortcomings in anti-money laundering and internal control.
It is worth mentioning that the British payment regulatory department is also undergoing restructuring.
In March this year, the British government announced that the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) would be merged into the FCA, a change aimed at reducing red tape and promoting economic growth.
The decision to scrap the PSR follows complaints from businesses that the UK’s financial regulatory system is too complex, as the UK has three financial regulators – the FCA, the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority and the PSR.
The reorganization of the regulatory authorities means that regulatory rules are changing, which will have a profound impact on the future development of the British payment industry.
