Allan Gray has appointed Eighty20 and Summit Financial Partners to investigate debit orders processed by EasyPay, a payments platform owned by Net1 UEPS Technologies, which benefited from the group’s controversial social-grants contract. Summit would interview EasyPay Everywhere bank-account holders to find out whether they could dispute debit orders as easily as Net1 claimed they could, Leonard Krüger, portfolio manager at Allan Gray, said on Wednesday. Eighty20 would analyse the actual debit orders, Krüger said. Allan Gray holds a 15.6% stake in Net1 and recently spoke out against its practices. This followed intense media scrutiny — of Net1 and Allan Gray after the Constitutional Court found the tender awarded to Net1’s Cash Paymaster Services was invalid. Net1 has sold microloans, insurance and airtime to social grant beneficiaries via EasyPay. It has faced legal action over allegedly unlawful deductions from Grindrod-branded South African Social Security Agency bank accounts fo...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.