PFS and
Sulion took part in “anti-competitive” behavior by “agreeing not to compete or poach each other’s clients.”
As mentioned in the announcement, the case deals with pre-paid cards that are regularly used by local authorities to hand out welfare payments to “vulnerable members” of society, including the homeless, victims of domestic violence, and asylum seekers.
In its Statement of Objections, sent to the five different parties on March 31, 2021, the Payment Systems Regulator has alleged that there had been 2 infringements of the Competition Act 1998 that “took the form of market sharing/customer allocation”:
One “lasting six years (between 2012 and 2018) and involving all five parties.”