Gavin Williamson, a former cabinet minister, started working for a company that is introducing a payment card that is “built for the influencer lifestyle.” The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had earlier issued a consumer warning about the card and it is now only available in Brazil.
Williamson was granted authorization to become a member of the advisory board of Lanistar, which on its website states that it intends to expand its cryptocurrency and virtual payment card offerings into the UK and EU.
The former minister, who held positions in the Cabinet Office and as education secretary and will get payment in shares, stated he would support the company by “providing guidance, connections (with financial institutions), and leadership to Lanistar” to the advisory committee on business appointments (Acoba).
“You stated in the job description that you would establish ties with Lanistar. You explicitly stated that you would not communicate with or engage with the government. There is a chance that the government and its independent agencies could be improperly accessed and influenced by means of your connections. It stated that using official relationships, even inadvertently, would violate the regulations, which prohibit all ministers from lobbying for two years after leaving office.
In order to promote its product, Lanistar’s business approach entails reaching out to influencers who have more than 50,000 followers, offering them shares in the firm upon the introduction of the company’s card. It claims to have over 3,000 influencers signed up from 100 countries on its website.
Several years ago, the company ran a viral advertising campaign with celebrities like Kevin De Bruyne of the Premier League, Love Islanders Tommy Fury and Amber Gill, endorsing it.
The financial technology company was founded in the UK in 2019 and received a consumer warning from the FCA later that year. After the company promised to include a “suitable disclaimer to its marketing materials updating its regulatory status to confirm that it is not conducting regulated activities,” the regulator later removed the warning. It was subsequently deregistered in August of this year after having registered for a regulated firm in 2021 as a “e-money agent.”
Gurhan Kiziloz, the founder of Lanistar, has stated in interviews that he hopes the fintech company will become a £1 billion plus unicorn. It has a collaboration with a bank and Mastercard in Brazil, where their payment card and cryptocurrency app are functioning.
The chief executive of Lanistar, Jeremy Baber, stated that although the company had a partner in place and planned to debut in the UK, its present focus was on the Brazil market, where it currently has 50,000 users.
He called the FCA warning “very old news” and emphasized that the company has since registered with the authority.
Baber issued the following statement in regard to the ASA: “As I told the team, Lanistar’s claim at the time was a little over-zealous, and they should have taken the ‘Carlsberg’ approach and stated the card was ‘probably’ the most secure in the world – then this issue would never have happened.” Once more, ignorance rather than a conscious effort to deceive. It should be noted, though, that this was a reaction to marketing even prior to the product’s launch.
According to him, the business “won’t launch in the UK until we’re ready and have incorporated ApplePay and GooglePay into our UK product.” Once more, we want to stand out from the crowd and not sell plastic.