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Wonga to cut one-third of its workforce in restructuring | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Payday lender Wonga says it expects to cut 325 jobs - more than a third of its workforce - as it meets new regulation. | |
Wonga says 325 posts are set to go in teams that support the UK business, affecting offices in London, Dublin, Cape Town and Tel Aviv that currently employ a total of 650 people. | Wonga says 325 posts are set to go in teams that support the UK business, affecting offices in London, Dublin, Cape Town and Tel Aviv that currently employ a total of 650 people. |
The Dublin and Tel Aviv offices will close. | The Dublin and Tel Aviv offices will close. |
Wonga's chairman, Andy Haste, said the business could no longer sustain its high-cost base. | |
Wonga is the biggest and best-known of the payday lenders in the UK, with one million active customers. | |
The industry has run into a number of controversies in the past year including, in Wonga's case, the use of fake legal notices to chase outstanding debts. | |
Police recently ruled out a criminal investigation into the company over the scandal, which saw 45,000 customers pursued in this way. | |
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) took over regulation of payday lenders last April. | |
In June 2014, Wonga agreed with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to pay £2.6m to those affected. | |
The businesses are currently operating under interim permission from the FCA and will have to apply for full licences in due course. | |
They are now more tightly regulated and are no longer allowed to roll over a loan more than twice, nor attempt to reclaim payment from a borrower's account more than twice. | |
When Mr Haste took over as chairman last summer, he warned the group would become smaller. |