Following this announcement, PayOne has been ordered to increase its capital until it resolves the identified deficiencies. The payment service provider came under scrutiny following several audits that revealed multiple serious deficits in its compliance with Germany’s Money Laundering Act (GwG).
In addition, BaFin also mentioned that the deficiencies were found in the IT monitoring and the risk assessment of business relationships and transactions of the company.
In order to ensure compliance, PayOne is currently expected to report regularly on its progress in addressing these issues and problems. The special monitor was developed in order to oversee the firm’s adherence to optimised due diligence obligations and requirements, as well as to supervise remediation efforts.
BaFin’s regulatory action also follows previous enforcement measures that were taken against PayOne. In 2023, the regulatory prohibited the firm from processing payments and transactions for certain high-risk business customers and clients, as well as banning it from the process of onboarding new users in this category. The decision was made after PayOne presented multiple and significant anti-money laundering (AML) failures.
The special audit further revealed that merchants and businesses within PayOne’s high-risk portfolio were linked to illicit activities. These included fake stores, phishing, and several fraudulent subscriptions that put customers at risk.
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