British money transfer firm Zepz has reportedly made another round of job cuts.
The company, which owns remittance platforms WorldRemit and Sendwave, has laid off 30 workers, according to a CNBC report Thursday (Nov. 30).
“Zepz has entered a redundancy consultation which could affect less than 2% of its global headcount,” a company spokesperson said in an exclusive statement to the network.
These layoffs follow another round of cuts in May, when Zepz — last valued at $5 billion — let go of 26% of its workforce, saying that its purchase of Sendwave duplicated some positions.
The CNBC report notes Zepz is among several FinTechs dealing with a slowdown in the digital payments arena, which has driven cost reductions and layoffs.
For example, PayPal said in September it was selling returns logistics firm Happy Returns to UPS for $465 million, just two years after purchasing it.
“Simply put, our cost base remains too high,” Chief Executive Officer Alex Chriss said during an earnings call.
Block, meanwhile, has announced plans to reduce its employee numbers from 13,000 down to 12,000 by the end of the year. As PYMNTS reported recently, earnings from both companies highlight the tight lending environment facing companies that loan to businesses.
Zepz achieved profitability for the first time last year, and told CNBC that with that in mind it is focused on “innovation and continuous improvement for our users, delivering meaningful products that make finance more convenient and accessible to migrant communities.”
“To fully realize our mission to unlock the prosperity of cross-border communities, we sometimes need to make tough decisions,” the company said.
As PYMNTS wrote earlier this year, the global remittance market — which moves hundreds of billions of dollars across borders every year — is being reshaped by a digital disruption.
“While some long-established players have been shifting to digital channels — a shift hastened by the pandemic — they’re still facing competition from digital-only upstarts,” that report said.
“Remittances tend to be a more resilient business than most during tough economic times, as migrants continually send money back home.”
Despite all this, Zepz Chief Financial Officer Robert Mitchell told PYMNTS last November that this doesn’t mean the company can take its eye off its rivals or ignore price-conscious customers who routinely look for cheaper or faster alternatives.
“For us as a company, we’re always leaning into the product to make sure the user experience is fully enhanced and making sure we’re addressing any sources of customer churn,” he said.
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