Briefs: OFX gains UK e-money licence; MacBank advisers fight for award wages, Wisr joins with mortga
• OFX (previously known as OzForex) said it had been granted an "e-money licence" in Britain by the Financial Conduct Authority. Skander Malcolm, managing director of OFX explained in a statement that "the e-money licence means that OFX is now regulated as an Electronic Money Institution under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, which is a change from its previous status as an Authorised Payment Institution and Money Services Business [and] allows OFX to offer comprehensive payments services." The group is widening services from its origins as a foreign exchange dealer.• The Australian reports that six more investment advisers have lodged claims against Macquarie Group, making a total of 41 financial planners alleging the company failed to deliver basic entitlements including regular wages and annual leave. Spread across four Federal Circuit Court registries from Brisbane to Melbourne is a series of pay claims exceeding A$10 million in total. In the latest lawsuit, filed in Sydney on Monday, six former investment advisers from Macquarie's wealth division say that the bank short changed them and breached the Fair Work Act by paying them on a commission-only basis when it should have employed them under the Banking, Finance and Insurance Award. A Macquarie spokeswoman said the company "will be defending the proceedings".• Self-styled and ASX-listed "neo-lender" Wisr has expanded its personal loan origination channels. The news comes after the company was appointed to the panel of Connective, Australia's leading mortgage broker aggregator. Almost 3,000 brokers on the Connective platform will be able to introduce personal loans to Wisr from 1 August 2018. More than 20 per cent of brokers in Australia aggregate through Connective, which had more than A$41.5 billion in settled loans in FY2017. This additional distribution channel follows Wisr's previously reported record growth rate in loan originations, with total loan origination value in H2FY18 rising by 136 per cent on the previous six months.