Cashplus Update on Service Outage in September

19 October 2018

•Thorough investigation completed to identify cause of the incident
•Overall, around 8% of customers impacted
•Rich Wagner, CEO reiterates his customer apology
•Only 5% of transactions were not processed normally during the incident
•Cashplus has initiated direct contact with all affected customers
•Compensation scheme activated to address customer loss, with £64,000 already distributed

Cashplus today issues an update on the intermittent service incident that took place between 17th and 19th September. During this period a limited number of debit card customers were impacted.

The Company has initiated contact with the 14,375 affected customers and is responding directly to inbound feedback from customers. There are 5 outstanding customer complaints, which will be addressed in the next two weeks.

A thorough investigation has now been concluded and the cause of the issue identified. The service incident resulted from a third party partner implementing a database upgrade which affected not just Cashplus, but a number of their other issuer clients using its platform. This has now been corrected and thoroughly tested.

The investigation highlighted that at least 95% of all transaction authorisations were successful during the incident period (from 17th to 19th September) and that 78% of the online servicing interactions were provided. During the incident period, no payment (inbound or outbound) was delayed beyond the day that it was initiated.

Cashplus has reviewed its systems and processes and also its service level agreement with FIS, the third party provider; agreeing additional procedures regarding any future upgrades. The third party is an industry-leading partner of Cashplus and has over 20,000 customers in 130 countries.

Commenting on the update, Rich Wagner, Chief Executive Officer said:

“I want to reiterate my apology for the inconvenience caused to our customers during the intermittent service outage from 17th to 19th September. We’ve already actively contacted customers who we believe were affected by the incident and are addressing their concerns, including compensating them. Our third party partner has investigated the cause of the incident and has identified and fixed this issue. Delivering excellent customer experience remains our number one priority”.

Cashplus has shared the results of its investigations and subsequent actions with relevant authorities, including the FCA and PRA.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:
Sam Young at [email protected] or Nat Fuller at [email protected]

Notes to Editor

1. About Cashplus

Cashplus, the trading name of Advanced Payment Solutions Ltd (APS), has been FCA authorised and regulated for over a decade. During this time, it has amassed a string of ‘Firsts’, including the first non-bank to offer banking services through the 11,500 Post Office branches and the first non-bank to introduce an instant online business current account.

Cashplus, one of the pioneers in Fintech, has developed a wide range of digital banking services, which challenge the traditional banking model. Through its proprietary technologies, award winning products and superior in-house data analytics, Cashplus has been able to offer over 1.4 million customers fast, convenient and transparent banking solutions to efficiently manage their finances and business cash flow. Recently voted the Best Challenger Bank 2017 by readers of PayBefore even though it’s not a Bank yet, Cashplus continues to provide innovative banking solutions for customers typically overlooked by traditional banks.

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, APS has a full permission credit licence for consumer credit activities (FRN 671140). APS Financial LTD (“AFL”), a subsidiary of APS, is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for the issuing of electronic money (FRN 900002).

AFL was the first non-bank issuer to gain Mastercard membership and is a member of both the Electronic Money and Emerging Payments Associations.