BR Shetty Steps Down As Co-chair And Director Of Finablr

Embattled Indian billionaire businessman BR Shetty has stepped down as co-chairman and director of London-listed payments company Finablr, with immediate effect.

In April it was revealed that the platform may owe as much as $1.3 billion, while last month, law firm Skadden was brought in to investigate any historic potential misconduct within the group and any misappropriation of assets of Finablr.

Shetty, the founder and former CEO of troubled NMC Health, owns 66 percent of shares in Finablr.

In a separate matter, a commercial court in the Indian city of Bengaluru has temporarily restrained Shetty from selling certain assets following a petition filed by Commercial Bank of Dubai PSC, according to an order dated August 14, Bloomberg reports. 

Meanwhile, in a separate statement on the London Stock Exchange, tax authorities in the United Kingdom have moved to suspend the business registrations of two subsidiaries of Finablr, UAE Exchange UK Ltd. and Xpress Money Services Ltd.

According to a statement from the London Stock Exchange (LSE): “Suspension of business registration would result in cessation of business by the relevant entities unless and until the suspension is lifted.  The company intends to work with HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) to attempt to restore the registrations.”

Finablr was demoted from London’s FTSE 250 index in March, a move at the time which the company blamed on the coronavirus pandemic and cyber attacks on its Travelex foreign exchange business.