The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has today issued a public censure against Paymentology Ltd.

Paymentology is a payment technology services provider incorporated in the UK.  It has never been licensed by the DFSA and has never had any presence of any kind in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

However, on 20 October 2020, Paymentology issued a media release which incorrectly stated that it had been granted a “license to operate” by the DFSA.  In addition, until at least 25 February 2021, Paymentology’s website incorrectly stated that Paymentology had an office in the DIFC. 

The DFSA found that, in making these statements, Paymentology disseminated misleading or deceptive information in breach of DFSA administered legislation.  In particular, by incorrectly claiming that it was licensed by the DFSA and had an office in the DIFC, Paymentology was likely to mislead or deceive others into believing that it was authorised by the DFSA to Provide Money Services in or from the DIFC when that was not correct.

In deciding to impose the public censure on Paymentology, the DFSA recognised that:
• the incorrect statement that Paymentology was licensed by the DFSA resulted from an employee’s misunderstanding;
• Paymentology promptly withdrew the media release of 20 October 2020 when the DFSA brought the incorrect statement to the firm’s attention; and
• the firm has since apologised for the error.

Were it not for Paymentology’s cooperation with the DFSA, and prompt action to correct the misleading information, the DFSA would have imposed a financial penalty on Paymentology.

The DFSA has noticed an increasing trend in firms wrongly claiming that they are based in the DIFC and licensed by the DFSA.  This is particularly the case for financial services technology businesses.  The DFSA will not tolerate such misrepresentations and will take appropriate enforcement action”.

A copy of the Decision Notice setting out full details of this matter can be found in the can be found in the Enforcement Decision Notices section of the DFSA website.