Draft:Cardaq

Company Name	Cardaq Limited
Company Type	Private
Industry	Financial technology
Founded	2011
Founders	Eberhard Dollinger
Current CEO	Hugo Remi (since 2018)
Notable people	Geoffrey Nicholson (chair)
Headquarters	London
Key products/services	Issuing, Acquiring, White Label Solutions
Subsidiaries/linked companies	Pridepay
Number of employees	69
Website	https://www.cardaq.co.uk/

Cardaq

Cardaq is a British cards and acquiring company, offering professional acquiring solutions for the processing of low and medium-risk businesses.

Established in 2011, Cardaq has been overseen by Hugo Remi since 2019 when he acquired the company and joined as CEO. Remi, a compliance consultant at the time, took over the company with the aims of turning it into the “next PayPal or Stripe”.

As of 2024, Cardaq has become a principal member of Visa, MasterCard and UnionPay for issuing and acquiring. It has also formed a sister company called PridePay, specifically servicing customers in the LGBTQIA+ community.

History

Based in London, Cardaq was founded in 2011 by Eberhard Dollinger.

In 2018, Cardaq began using Teido – a proprietary platform developed to service as a bridge between banks/acquirers and money service businesses (MSBs) with their merchants. It was built in flow to MSB underwriting and monitoring of its sub-merchants.

In 2019, experienced tech investor Hugo Remi acquired the business and assumed the role of CEO. At the time, he was working as a compliance consultant in London, working with the APCC and FCA to help firms gain regulatory authorisation. Upon recognising the opportunity to Cardaq, Remi worked with the owners to acquire the business.

In the years following the change of ownership and management, Cardaq grew and has since become fully licensed members of Visa, Mastercard and Union networks.

In 2024, Cardaq joined the UK’s Payment Association as a leader. Cardaq was a sponsor of TPA in 2023 and a Premium Plus sponsor in 2024.

This relationship has also seen Cardaq support the Payment Association’s documentary ‘the new APP fraud rules’. Taking a deep dive into the PSR’s new rules, the documentary conveyed the human story of these regulations with interviews from fintech leaders, regulators, fraud victims and even former fraudsters.

As of 2024, the business is active in the UK, Isle of Man, Jersey and Gibraltar, with 69 employees.  

Services

Targeting SMEs, Cardaq offers a full integrated suite of payment solutions. These tools give companies everything they need to create websites and apps that accept payments and send payouts worldwide. These are also accessible as white label solutions, with clients able to customise these as required.

Cardaq is licensed to provide a range of card issuing services and offers a cardbuilder tool, with customers able to create cards with a customised design via its website.

In addition to issuing services, Cardaq is an acquirer with a seamless payment processing system available to customers worldwide. The firm is able to support multiple currencies and payment methods, as well as offering both corporate and affluent customer issuing programmes.

Cardaq has also provides TPP processing, ISO processing, BIN sponsorship and mobile electronic money wallets development.

Anti-Fraud Activities

As a regulated payment solutions provider, Cardaq has invested heavily in anti-fraud security measures. Going further, in 2024 the firm took the step of supporting a landmark documentary in conjunction with The Payments Association and We Fight Fraud (an organisation focused on tackling financial crime).

This documentary, that premiered online in October 2024, was entitled ‘The New APP Rules: What They Mean for Consumers, Fraudsters and the UK’ and focused on new authorised push payments legislation.

These APP rules came into force that same month and created a lot of debate in the industry, with some claiming they are too onerous while others argue they don’t go far enough. The documentary was designed, with significant input from Cardaq, to explore these regulations through the eyes of criminals and determine to what extent these will frustrate their efforts.

A major motivation for the documentary was a recent backtrack by the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator to lower the threshold on how much compensation could be paid to victims of payments fraud. This consultation will likely see the sum lowered from £415,000 to £85,000. This figure is still a source of debate, with The Payments Association pushing for a figure of £30,000 for mandatory reimbursement.

Commenting on the documentary, Cardaq CEO Hugo Remi said it was important to support education on fraud as criminal schemes became more sophisticated. At the time of the premiere, he said: “It’s not just about keeping pace with the latest tactics but also understanding how fraudsters adapt to exploit vulnerabilities within businesses, customers, and, most importantly, end consumers… At Cardaq, we are deeply committed to leveraging cutting-edge innovations to protect both consumers and businesses. Our involvement in this project allows us to contribute to the broader conversation about the future of financial security and the proactive steps the industry must take to stay ahead of these ever-growing threats.”

Achievements

Visa - principal licenced member

Mastercard - principal licensed member

UnionPay - principal licensed member

Winners in “Best Card Design” nomination by The Digital Banker / Global Cards & Payments Innovation Awards 2024

Winners in “Best Financial Institution in the UK” nomination by The Digital Banker / Global Cards & Payments Innovation Awards 2024

Finalists in 2019 Pay360 Awards in 2019 - Best Innovative FinTech Startup in the UK category

Platinum Sponsors of Pay360 2025 Conference