FairFX gets credit broker licence
FairFX Group, through its subsidiary Spectrum Payment Services Ltd, has been granted permission by the FCA to provide credit facilities acting as a broker.
E-banking and international payments provider Fairfx Group PLC (LON:FFX), through its subsidiary Spectrum Payment Services Ltd, has obtained a credit broker licence, the company announces today.
Clearing this key regulatory hurdle allows the Group to offer a wide range of loan products to both its business and retail customers. As FairFX will be acting as a broker, the loans will be provided by FCA authorised third party lenders. There will be no credit risk to the Group and the loans will not appear on FairFX’s balance sheet.
The Group plans to launch an innovative, highly digitised revolving credit product in partnership with iwoca – a specialist lender to SME’s – in the coming months. It is intended that this will help small and medium sized businesses to apply and receive a decision in minutes and immediately receive funds. Business customers will be able to choose to receive funds directly into their account or onto prepaid card, either virtual or physical, which will be issued by FairFX Group under its Mastercard membership. With the benefit of FairFX’s membership of Faster Payments, funds could be spent directly and immediately; for instance, in cases where stock needs to be purchased or an urgent invoice be settled.
This development represents another step forward in the Group’s strategy to assist businesses, and in particular SME’s, with their cash-flow and growth ambitions. The Group has a pipeline of further innovative products and services set to launch later this year and beyond.
The announcement about the new license is made several days after John Pearson, Chairman made an upbeat comment about the Group’s performance. He said FairFX saw a strong start to 2019, both in terms of turnover and improved margins, which is a consequence of further rationalisation of the supply chain. He also highlighted the investments the Group made in 2018 which are now flowing through in terms of new products being released in 2019. One such example is the granting of the Bank of England settlement accounts and direct access to the Faster Payments scheme.
“The Board expects the Group’s trading performance for the full year to be in line with market expectations”, FairFX’s Chairman said.
