This situation has been marked as resolved.

Update 30/06/2020

13:00 BST

As of 12:15, all card spending has now commenced and all systems are operational. There may be sporadic card declines as the card data spreads through the Mastercard® network, however this will be temporary as some merchants and ATMs may not update in real time.

Our apologies again for the delay.

---

11:00 BST

Further to our earlier update below, we are still awaiting word from Mastercard® on when the cards will be re-enabled on their network. At the moment, cards are only capable of being loaded.

Like us, we know our customers are eager to get things back on track. Unfortunately, whilst B4B Payments and Bread4Scrap were ready, some of our partners were not. Please be assured our team are on the case and are seeking clarity on when this will be done and card spend transactions can resume.

Our apologies for this further delay. We will update you as soon as we know anything further.

---

08:00 BST

And… we’re back!

We’re extremely pleased to report that the FCA have now given written consent for Wirecard UK to resume regulated activity meaning that we can get services up and running. This confirms that all finances have been examined and it has been recognised by the FCA that Wirecard in the UK has been operating in accordance with its regulations and all funds are intact as expected. There are some continued conditions set by the FCA which should not impact further operations.

Please view the full FCA article here

The restriction on activities were lifted from 00.01 on 30 June 2020 and services are being restored.

Cards have now been reactivated.
Company floats may again be loaded.
Cards may be loaded as before.

We have been advised that all cards will be able to spend later this morning. If this changes we will let you know. It is possible that not all merchants (shops and ATMs) will be enabled straight away as the card data has to be re-populated through the Mastercard® network. Please note, that if cards don’t work at a particular merchant, this should just be temporary and they’ll be re-enabled soon.

This is great news but we want to assure you that we take this situation and the impact even just a few days outage has had on our customers and cardholders very seriously and we will continue to look at ensuring there is further resilience built into our operations.

Please expect further updates from us on both the Wirecard restart and future developments we are working on. On behalf of the entire B4B Payments team we thank you for your patience and understanding

Update 29/06/2020

Following the FCA’s decision on Friday to freeze all activity on accounts and cards issued by Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd, we would like to first and foremost, reassure our clients and cardholders that your money is safe.*

This morning, the FCA have updated their messaging to reflect that progress is being made by Wirecard UK, however cards remain frozen.

For the most up to date information, we urge our clients to refer to the FCA website.

We are hopeful that the progress being made will mean your accounts and cards will be operational again within the coming day(s).

With regards to future plans, B4B Payments has been planning an updated long-term solution for when the UK leaves the EU at the end of the year. We can confirm we have accelerated these plans. Our goal is to continue providing a stable platform that will allow our customers uninterrupted use of their cards and funds moving forward (UK and non-UK). At this time, we are unable to give definitive timelines – but will have an update for you in the coming weeks.

We understand that this disruption has caused an unprecedented amount of difficulties within your organisation and are doing everything we can to ensure operations get back on track as soon as possible.

On behalf of the team at B4B Payments, we would like to thank all of our clients for their immense patience and understanding.

*Please note, all B4B Payments and Bread4Scrap client funds are subject to UK safeguarding rules as governed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority

Customer and Cardholder FAQ

---

Update 26/06/2020

B4B Payments have been informed by the FCA that all cardholder activity on cards issued by Wirecard Card Solutions have been temporarily frozen until further notice.

In the short term, this means that effective immediately cards may not currently be used for either load or spend transactions. We are aware that the FCA and Wirecard are working productively to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and it is our hope that this will be resolved early next week.

On behalf of the team at B4B Payments, we would like to apologise to all our clients and cardholders for the disruption this may cause and are doing everything we can to ensure operations get back on track as soon as possible. At this time, we would suggest not making any further float loads until we have spoken further with the FCA about next steps.

We would remind and reassure you that all funds are safeguarded under FCA rules. Please see our previous message below with regards to safeguarding.

---

Update 18/06/20

You may have seen recent press coverage regarding Wirecard AG the German payments company.

We would like to make our clients aware of some facts as it relates to us and you. In Europe, B4B Payments prepaid cards are issued by Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd (WDCS) who are regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an E-Money Issuer (ref 90051).

Whilst WDCS is ultimately owned by Wirecard AG, it does not rely on Wirecard AG for liquidity, and is a profitable entity in its own right and is self sustaining. WDCS holds its own regulatory licenses and scheme memberships and third-party banking relationships.

We would like to remind and reassure you that both we, Payment Card Solutions (UK) Ltd t/a B4B Payments (B4B) and WDCS are regulated by the FCA and are required to take measures to ensure our customers money is protected as follows:

Safeguarding of Funds

B4B holds a commercial bin sponsorship agreement with WDCS to allow it to offer prepaid card programs to its customers and to operate and manage its client relationships with oversight from WDCS.

Both the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 have the principle of “safeguarding” of client funds and require safeguarding measures to be implemented by the authorised firm to protect customer’s funds.

 The safeguarding options are either:

•          Immediate segregation of the relevant funds received in exchange for e-money or payment services and placing them into an account held by an authorised credit institution

•          Relevant funds are covered by an insurance policy or guarantee from a UK or EEA authorised insurer.

Both WDCS and B4B have taken the appropriate step of safeguarding its clients’ funds by segregation and placing them in a protected ‘Client Funds Bank Account’ held with a UK or European based bank. At the current time, these banks include Barclays Bank and ClearBank as well as HSBC and LHV Bank (in Europe).

The effects of this are that, in the unlikely event that WDCS or B4B becomes insolvent, funds that have been loaded to a prepaid card or placed on a payment account, and which have arrived with and been deposited into the client funds account, are protected against the claims made by creditors. Cardholders and Clients can therefore be assured that no financial loss will be experienced by them should such a situation occur.

As soon as we have more information, we will share those updates on this page.

B4B Payments is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Authorised Payment Institution under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (Firm No. 777613)