Shops with dubious customers?
Allegations against payment service providers Payone
Business with dubious clients as early as 2023, the financial supervision called for the plan. The company assures that they have taken consequences. But there is still criticism.
The payment service provider Payone is faced with allegations about “dirty transactions” with providers of dating or porn sites. For years, the specialist for digital payments is said to have systematically worked with dubious business partners and have disregarded legal requirements for money laundering prevention. The “Spiegel” reports as part of an international research network.
Payone wraps payments from private individuals at the cash register and in online shops. The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe holds 40 percent at the company based in Frankfurt/Main via the German Sparkassen Verlag (DSV), with 60 percent of the French Worldline.
The service provider Payone, who works in Germany and Austria, according to its own statements, processes 5.4 billion transactions per year for 277,000 customers.
After an intervention by the financial supervision Bafin in the summer of 2023, Payone separated from hundreds of “high-risk documents”, the “Spiegel” report said. However, internal documents indicated that payments of such retailers “continue to be handled via another Worldline subsidiary, so almost a sister of Payone”.
PAYONE: criticized shops were completely discontinued
According to a Payone spokeswoman, the company has completely stopped the “high-risk business” after BaFin intervention. PAYONE GmbH took “immediately” measures “to end these business relationships with both partners and dealers who work in Germany”.
In addition, internal controls have been sharpened to “prevent future transactions from customers with similar customer profiles that could represent increased compliance risks,” says the PayOne position on the current reports.
The Federal Financial Service Supervisory Authority (BAFIN) had prohibited Payone GmbH on July 26, 2023 due to “high money laundering risks and serious deficits in money laundering prevention” to carry out transactions for certain business customers that belong to the high -risk film.
BaFin also banned the company to enter into new customer relationships in this area. According to the authority, this would prevent Payone from being “misused for money laundering”.
Majority owner Worldline: Consequences for further violations
In a current statement, Worldline also points out that the group has sharpened its specifications since 2023 “to ensure the complete compliance with laws and regulations”.
Business relationships that are considered to be not conformed with this have ended. The company emphasized: “If the group finds information on violations, additional exams will be carried out immediately that may lead to the end of the customer relationship.”
dpa
Source: Stern
