MoneyGram hits back at Post Office for removing services from branches

Money transfer fintech MoneyGram has strongly condemned Post Office for removing money transfer services from thousands of Post Office branches.

In a letter addressed to Postmasters, seen by Asian Trader, MoneyGram said it is “shocked and disappointed” by Post Office portrayal on a contract breakdown, which saw money transfer services removed from thousands of branches.

MoneyGram added that it believes it had a “binding agreement for a new 12-month extension with the Post Office”.

Fintech MoneyGram enables users to transfer money, pay bills and trade in cryptocurrencies. It was forced to suspend services in the wake of an ongoing cyber security incident. The issue began on Sept 20, when customers began to report problems, but it was first identified as a simple network outage affecting connectivity.

The Post Office told subpostmasters on Monday (30) that services were still unavailable across the thousands of Post Office branches around the UK, while the organisation ensures it understands “the protective measures that MoneyGram have implemented following the incident”.

A new contract was close to being agreed before the cyber incident. The Post Office told subpostmasters, “Post Office and MoneyGram have been in contract negotiations since June of this year and had expected to agree a new contract to roll on from 1 October 2024. The contracting process was in the final stages when, unfortunately, MoneyGram suffered the cyber attack.”

Meanwhile, MoneyGram hit back in the letter to subpostmasters, calling the message from the Post Office "misleading" and "breach of current agreement's confidentiality".

It wrote, “Our cyber security experts have determined that the incident has no effect on our agents’ systems. We are pleased to report that we have resumed operations in every country outside the UK and are working diligently to resume operations here.

“It is unfortunate that the Post Office has taken this stance after our trusting partnership of over 25 years. We sincerely hope that we further the dialogue with the Post Office and can work with [subpostmasters] in the future.”