(Bloomberg) -- Block Inc.’s consumer-payments platform, Cash App, plans to close its UK operations, six years after debuting its services there.
The platform, which provides money transfers via a mobile app, will shut on Sept. 15, the company told customers on Thursday. The UK was Cash App’s first international market when it launched there in 2018.
“We do not make decisions like this lightly, as we know they impact our customers, our partners and our team members who have helped us build to where we are today,” the firm said in a notice on its website. “In recent months, we have outlined our strategic approach for Cash App, which prioritizes our focus on the United States, and deprioritizes global expansion. All of our operations remain unaffected by this decision.”
Cash App, launched in 2013, is one of the better-known arms of Block, the fintech company helmed by Jack Dorsey. The peer-to-peer payments app market has become more crowded in recent years with the rise of PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo and bank-focused Zelle.
The announcement follows a February report by NBC that US financial regulators were probing Cash App, after whistleblowers alleged it had conducted inadequate due diligence on customers. Shares of Block tumbled at the time. They fell 1% to $71.12 at 10:04 a.m. in New York, extending this year’s decline to 8%.
Block reported gross first-quarter profit of $2.09 billion in May, fueled by $1.26 billion generated by Cash App globally. The business also offers users access to investments such as stocks and Bitcoin, as well as other financial products.
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