GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post

Holy Damage · 12-27-2021, 11:51 AM

Just got this today

Quote:

ePayments is back and we couldn't be more excited!

Hi XXXX,

It’s been a while and it's only fair that we have a lot to say. This will be a long article so bear with us and let's start with the most important, we’re delighted to reopen for business after challenging times and we can’t wait to start serving you again. We want it, you deserve it and it’s happening!

It’s taken a lot of work, huge investment from our shareholders, and some tough decisions to get to this point, but we’re very excited to get back to doing what we do best: making your cross-border payments a breeze to your operational needs.

We’re gradually reopening our doors to existing and new customers, while enabling the whole host of our most valued features and services:
o Your safe and secure multi-currency wallet, to receive and send payments worldwide;
o Your flexible ePayments Mastercard for everyday spending (available soon and not from day one of BAU); and
o A simple, reliable and easy to use app that keeps your money secure across multiple OS platforms

We know the last year was rough for both us and our customers, as such, instead of prioritising business as usual activities or growth targets and onboarding of new customers, ePayments decided that in the initial weeks post reopening doors we’re going to prioritise all efforts, focus and resources into giving our customers the access to its funds through the refunds process. We are working with our banking partners to be able to open refunds for more customers. We’re now open and giving qualified customers access to trigger refunds process as a business priority.

We still want to keep our platform as open, cost-effective and inclusive as it always has been, serving freelancers and entrepreneurs around the world without discrimination.

There are many things we want to say to our customers at this huge moment in the ePayments journey. For now though, we’ve chosen our top five.

1. Thank you for the trust and confidence.

We would firstly like to thank every one of our customers and partners for their patience, loyalty and support whilst we’ve embarked on this difficult journey.

As well as now being able to open our doors, we’ve been steadily ramping up our refunds process. We’re delighted to announce that we’ve now processed millions in refunds for the eligible customers who completed remediation, and with your help this was made as smooth and organised as possible.

This past year has been tough for everyone, in many different ways. At this time, more than ever, we wish we’d been able to deliver the service you’d come to expect from ePayments.

We’re delighted to know that so many freelancers and businesses are keen to remain ePayments customers into this next chapter. We deeply appreciate your loyalty and trust.

We will always aim to go above and beyond the high expectations of our customers and partners. Our commitment to our customers remains our greatest strength and the reason we spent the past year building back better.

We also want to thank everyone who has taken the time to share feedback about our products and services to help us create an experience that’s streamlined and easy to use. We really appreciate your help and everything we do is motivated by the willingness to better serve our customers.

2. We take this seriously

Since the day our operations were turned off, we’ve made sure to do the right thing at every stage of the process.

Since the very beginning, our shareholders have been committed to bringing ePayments back to full strength; letting the company fold has never been an option. They have invested £15 million over the past year to keep the company going, keep our 150-strong team in their jobs, and provided the resources needed to build back better.

We’ve engaged with expert consultants, overhauled all of our systems and controls, enhanced our senior management and leadership team, and had our work signed off by an approved audit firm.

As part of this process, we’ve created hundreds of new regulatory and compliance documents and hired 50 new team members. Here are some snapshots of what’s been happening* while we’ve been away.

* Disclaimer: We’re not authorized to share all the complex information, so we are sharing the highlights in a summarized form that may help you understand why it took so long.

2020

February: The day after our doors close, we start looking at the problems within our business and pull together a roadmap for fixing them. We hire a top law firm to represent the interests of the company and our customers.

March: We start working with a top four firm to rebuild our systems and risk framework, and stay in touch with the regulator to keep them updated on our progress.

April: We work with the regulator to figure out how to make refunds to customers. We continue to build out our authentication systems to further protect our customers from any cybersecurity risks while being fully compliant with PSRs.

May: Our revised anti-money laundering (AML) policies and procedures come together and we finalise our company-wide assessment. We also start to add specialised people to our leadership team so we can make greater strides towards being fully operational.

June: Our financial crime team hires a new manager with experience of the remediation process. We update our transaction monitoring rules and create policies to meet our obligations as an e-money institution (EMI).

July: We start a new company-wide training programme on compliance and preventing financial crime. Further investing in our people, we create new committees to manage the business more openly and transparently. We build new know-your-customer (KYC) checks.

August: We bring in Brighter Management Consultancy to help us move even faster through our compliance to-do list. After a thorough search, we choose an external auditor and hire a new head of transaction monitoring, an essential jigsaw piece for returning to normal.

September: We decide to bring our entire compliance operations team back to the UK, and work to smooth out many of the product processes for customers.

October: We work with the external auditor on a new plan towards reopening our doors. We hired another key member of the team: a new Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO).

November: We’re getting there! The latest refunds plan is approved by the auditor and we share it with the regulator. Plus, our new screening processes for onboarding new customers and our customer risk rating management are both audited and approved as fit for purpose.

December: Our new CEO joins ePayments, bringing strong management experience and expertise. Our customer fund protections are audited and approved, and our financial stress tests pass.