The former chief executive officer (CEO) and board of directors of electronic money institution Emoney PLC (‘Em@ney PLC’) have rejected claims they were partly responsible for customers being left without access to their funds.
Last week, Emoney customers said they were unable to access their money after weeks of being unable to make cash deposits, shortly after the company told them it was suspending money transfers and discontinuing its debit cards.
Responding to the complaints, the Pietà-based company said it had encountered “technical difficulties” while changing IT provider from one owned by the previous management, who it said had also refused to hand over customer data.
Emoney said the former management being “uncooperative” had contributed to “further delays in releasing funds for some customers”.
But in a joint statement this week, the company’s former CEO, Germano Arnò and former board directors said they “bear no responsibility for the recent decisions made by the new management of Em@ney”.
Since the handover occurred, “the former board no longer has any influence over the company’s operations”, they continued, before “entirely” attributing the suspension of banking services on the new management.
“Despite his [Arnò’s] attempts to offer support, the new leadership chose to make sudden changes to the platform and discontinue services built over years of hard work and perseverance”, the statement read.
“Arnò urges the new management to communicate openly with clients, many of whom are left without adequate information or solutions, further fuelling frustration.”
Stressing that the former CEO “no longer has any control over... access to information”, the statement – issued to “protect the professional reputation” of the former management – called on the new management to “prioritise the needs of customers”.
Arnò founded Emoney in 2011, becoming CEO the following year and serving until last month, according to his LinkedIn profile.
His time steering the company was not without controversy; in 2021, Emoney was fined €359,339 by the FIAU. The company is appealing the fine.