Halo Financial Limited (Halo) entered special administration on 29 May 2026. Louise Longley and Bai Cham of BTG Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP (Begbies) have been appointed as joint special administrators to oversee the process.
Halo is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide payment services under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (the PSRs). Prior to entering special administration, on 30 April 2026 Halo agreed to a voluntary undertaking, which restricted the activities it could carry out. This undertaking limited Halo's ability to conduct payment services and prevented it from accepting any additional funds.
The appointment of special administrators means that Longley and Cham are now responsible for managing customer claims against the firm and, where possible, returning funds to customers. Their role includes assessing the firm's financial position, handling communications with customers and creditors, and coordinating the steps required under the special administration regime.
The Payment and Electronic Money Institution Insolvency Regulations 2021 introduced a specific special administration regime for payment and e-money institutions. Under this framework, special administrators have an additional objective beyond the usual insolvency aims: they must seek to return customer funds as soon as reasonably practicable. This objective is designed to prioritise the treatment of customer money held by such institutions.
Customer funds held by Halo are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), as FSCS coverage does not extend to payment services. Instead, customers rely on the firm's safeguarding arrangements and the work of the special administrators to identify and return funds where possible.
The special administrators will conduct an assessment of all funds held by Halo to determine which amounts are safeguarded for customers and which belong to the firm. This assessment is a key step in the special administration, as it underpins the process of distributing safeguarded funds back to customers in line with the applicable regulations.
The combination of the earlier voluntary undertaking and the subsequent special administration places Halo's operations under significant restriction, focusing activity on the orderly management of claims and the return of customer funds in accordance with the Payment and Electronic Money Institution Insolvency Regulations 2021 and the PSRs.
