The founder of London fintech WorldFirst has quit the firm days after telling the Standard he was satisfied with its risk management practices amid reports he questioned a governance shake-up by its Chinese owners.
Jonathan Quin, who launched the international payments business in 2004 and sold it to billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group in 2019 in a $700 million deal, departed its board this week to spend more time on “personal pursuits”, Ant said.
Earlier this year, Ant shifted the majority of WorldFirst’s business away from UK regulators in a major restructuring. WorldFirst Asia, a business unit which accounted for around two-thirds of the company’s revenues, was transferred to an Asian subsidiary of Ant, which it said was based on “the strategic alignment of the legal entities.”
At meetings of the firm’s risk committee, Quin is understood to have questioned the move of governance functions and roles from the UK to China.
But Quin told the Standard the discussions were in the “course of my duties as a director to report” and that he “wanted to make sure they understood the importance of sanctions regimes and compliance and risk matters.”
The transfer of WorldFirst’s overseas operations away from the UK comes amid a period of heightened scrutiny over British fintech firms’ risk policies after increased rules around sanctioned individuals and entities.
In August, London fintech Wise was accused of ‘inappropriate’ controls over sanctions rules by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation after it was found to have permitted a cash withdrawal from a company account owned or controlled by a person under the government’s Russia sanctions list. Wise said undertook an immediate review of its processes to prevent the issue recurring.
Quin’s departure adds to a growing number of senior UK leaders who have left WorldFirst since the start of last year, including its CEO, finance director, managing director, head of risk, chief information security officer, and group general counsel and compliance officer.
In July, Ant Group was fined around £800 million by the Chinese financial regulator after it was accused of violating rules on corporate governance, financial consumer protection, and anti-money laundering obligations. Quin said he was satisfied with WorldFirst’s risk management practices and was aware of no impropriety.
Before Ant acquired WorldFirst, it made a bid to acquire US-based rival MoneyGram as part of Ant’s international expansion plans. But, in 2018, the planned $1.2 billion deal was rejected by the committee on foreign investment in the United States (CFIUS) over national security concerns.
Quin is a former pupil at Tony Blair’s boarding school Fettes College and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. He founded WorldFirst in 2004 at the age of 29 and built it into a major player in the global money transfer and foreign exchange market, processing billions in payments and reporting revenues of over £100 million in 2022.
An Ant Group spokesperson said: “Mr. Quin tendered his resignation from the Board to devote his time and attention to new responsibilities of his personal pursuits. We thank him for his tremendous contribution to the company.”
