EML Payments has had a “nil growth cap” imposed on its Irish subsidiary, PFS Card Services Ireland Ltd, after the Central Bank of Ireland found that the company had made limited progress with its remediation plan. EML’s Irish business has been the subject of regulatory intervention since May last year, when the CBI reported that it was exposed to elevated risk of money laundering and terrorism financing as a result of the poor quality of its risk management framework and governance. EML reported last month that the CBI was concerned that “significant and ongoing deficiencies remain” and that it may issue a direction that growth in payment volumes for the period from March 2023 to March 2024 be restricted to no growth above a 2022 baseline. On Friday, EML confirmed that the CBI has issued that directive. In November, EML released a transformation plan, which included completion if the remediation work in Ireland by the end of this year. The company will have to revise that timeline. In its December half accounts, EML recognised an A$86.2 million impairment expense to the carrying value of PFS, which was acquired in 2020 for $252 million. It also recognised a $35.1 million impairment expense to the carrying value of another overseas subsidiary, Sentenial Group, which was acquired in 2021 for $109 million plus a potential earnout of $62 million. The write-downs tipped the company into loss. It made a loss of $129.9 million in the December half, compared with a loss of $12.1 million in the previous corresponding period. The company has said it may write down PFS’s carrying value further.