Who is Mangopay?
MANGOPAY (Mangopay S.A.) is a regulated payment service provider which processes payments on your behalf for your activities on our platform. MANGOPAY is an authorised Electronic Money Institution (EMI), licensed in Luxembourg and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK under the Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR). MANGOPAY is authorised to issue electronic money (e-money) and provide payment services.
What are e-money and payment services?
When you pay money via our platform, MANGOPAY holds the funds in a secure account and creates an equivalent amount of e-money, which is credited to your e-wallet on our platform. When you receive money on our platform via MANGOPAY, we collect e-money on your behalf in your e-wallet. While this may sound similar to what a bank does when funds are received into a current account, MANGOPAY is not a bank. Therefore, MANGOPAY does not take your money as a deposit to use for its own purposes or to lend to other customers. Furthermore, your e-money is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
How does MANGOPAY protect your money?
To ensure your money is secure, MANGOPAY follows a process known as safeguarding, which is a regulatory requirement for all EMIs. In this process, MANGOPAY keeps your money separate and places it in a safeguarding account with a credit institution (a bank). MANGOPAY’s safeguarding obligations are assessed every year by an independent expert, and the report confirming that it complies with the regulations is available to the FCA on request. In the event of MANGOPAY going out of business, an insolvency practitioner would be appointed to return the funds it has safeguarded to you.
How does FSCS cover differ from safeguarding?
FSCS protects consumers, small businesses, limited companies and charities (that meet its eligibility criteria) when certain authorised financial services firms, including banks, fail and cannot return your money to you. FSCS is a service funded by the financial service firms that it covers. FSCS provides compensation only up to £85,000 per eligible person per licence holder. This means that if you have money in multiple accounts with banks, building societies or credit unions that are part of the same group (and share the same banking licence), the FSCS will treat them as one bank. By comparison, the full value of safeguarded funds held in an e-wallet (minus administrative costs applied by the insolvency practitioner) will be returned to you in the event that MANGOPAY goes out of business. Because of the insolvency procedure, it may take longer for your money to be returned to you when compared to an FSCS claim. You can find more information about using a non-bank payment service provider on the FCA’s website.