FCA confirms Supercapital Ltd is in administration

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has earlier today confirmed that payment services provider Supercapital Ltd has entered administration.

The regulator explains that on September 12, 2019, Supercapital ceased to provide any regulated business. On September 27, 2019, Kevin Goldfarb and Stephen Hunt of Griffins Insolvency Practitioners LLP were appointed as joint administrators of Supercapital.

Supercapital’s administrators are responsible for managing customer claims against the firm and distributing funds back to customers where possible. The administrators are required to provide a report to creditors within eight weeks of their appointment, the FCA says. The report will provide details of Supercapital’s history and the administrator’s proposals.

Those who have any questions regarding the administration process are advised get in touch with the administrators at [email protected].

The joint administrators will gather as much information as possible from creditors and customers of Supercapital about payments made to, or owed by Supercapital.

Importantly, the funds of Supercapital’s customers are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This is because the FSCS only applies to certain types of activity. This does not include payment services.

Under the PSRs, there are requirements on how customers’ money should be protected and these requirements are known as ‘safeguarding’. When Supercapital provided regulated payment services activities it was required to hold money separately for those customers. The way in which this money needs to be held is set out in the PSRs and is referred to as safeguarded funds. The safeguarding requirements apply to Supercapital and the firm must comply with them at all times.

Safeguarding is a key consumer protection measure within the PSRs. The purpose of safeguarding is to protect customer money if a firm fails.

The FCA advises all customers to remain alert to the possibility of fraud. If you are cold called by someone claiming to be from Supercapital, Griffins or the FCA, please end the call and contact them directly. Those approached by a company offering to help them recover their money should proceed with caution. For most of the firm’s clients, there will be no benefit in involving a third party in making a claim.