Glint app that lets customers pay with gold goes into administration but says customers can still deposit money
- Glint allowed users to buy gold bullion using cash and then use it to buy things
- It fell into administration last Wednesday evening, according to the FCA
- But some users were still receiving debit cards after it went into administration
- While the firm has no FSCS protection users’ money may still be safeguarded
- Glint told This is Money its app still worked as normal
App-based debit card Glint, which allows users to pay based in gold, has fallen into administration.
However, for five days after this occurred the company did not mention the matter on its website.
Glint Pay, which allowed users to buy and store gold and use a Mastercard debit card to spend it, went into administration on Wednesday, according to a post published on the Financial Conduct Authority’s website on Friday evening.
Glint told This is Money that its app still worked as normal and users could still deposit money into it.
Despite going into administration last Wednesday, Glint made no mention of this on its website when This is Money first checked it yesterday afternoon
There has been no activity on the company’s website or its Twitter feed since Friday, and until late afternoon yesterday there was no reference on its website to being in administration. It has now since updated its website with a disclaimer.
Since FRP Advisory LLP were appointed as joint administrators the company’s website continues to encourage people to sign up and deposit money into the app, and users were still receiving debit cards.
Over the course of the weekend app users were also still being sent notifications encouraging them to top up their apps, according to fintech website AltFi.
Money deposited with Glint is not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, as it held an electronic money licence from the FCA rather than a full banking licence.
Customers were told on the FCA website: ‘Glint holds funds on behalf of its customers.
‘Safeguarding is a key consumer protection measure within the EMRs and Payments Services Regulations. The purpose of safeguarding is to protect customer money if a firm fails in a disorderly way.
‘Safeguarding requirements apply to Glint and are a condition of Glint’s authorisation that the firm must comply with at all times.’
Glint allowed users to buy gold bullion using cash for cheaper than a broker and spend it using a Mastercard debit card
According to the firm’s website, Glint ‘maintain a secure and segregated full reserve of all user funds at Lloyds bank in London. Your gold really is your gold – it’s physical gold bullion that is legally allocated to you and stored in a vault in Switzerland.
‘Your money really is yours. For every pound, dollar and euro held in your Glint account, Lloyds holds an equivalent amount of assets in their reserve.
Glint has now put a disclaimer on its website telling users it has gone into administration
‘For every ounce of gold held in your account there is an ounce of physical gold owned by you in the vault in Switzerland. There is no token, fund or bank that sits in between you and ownership of your money.
‘Glint users can be 100 per cent confident that their money is safe, at all times.’
Glint would be the second e-money institution in the last four months to go bust, after digital banking app Loot fell into administration at the end of May.
In that situation, customers were assured their money was safe as it was held by Germany payments provider Wirecard.
The FCA encourages any Glint customer or client concerned about how they might be affected to contact FRP Advisory at glintpay@frpadvisory.com.