Customers had been locked out of their accounts since Friday when the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned Wirecard UK from carrying out any regulated activities amid an alleged £1.7bn accounting fraud at its German parent firm.

The restrictions left some people who had their salary paid into affected accounts unable to pay for essentials.

But the FCA lifted restrictions on Wirecard UK on Monday night after working closely with Wirecard UK and other authorities over several days.

A statement on the FCA website said: “This means customers will now, or very shortly, be able to use their cards as usual. If any customers are still experiencing difficulties in using their card, they should contact their card provider directly and should do so using the contact details on their website.

“We know that some people may have faced difficulties over the weekend and we worked with DWP, HMT and the Home Office in order to help anyone suffering financial distress. Anyone who is still in difficulties should see our website for more details.”

Affected customers

Firms which use Wirecard services include:

• Anna Money
• Pockit
• Dozens
• Curve
• Fair FX

Updates on the various companies’ websites confirmed that services would resume shortly.

Fair FX said it may take a few hours for all cards to get back up and running, while Pockit estimated that its customers would be able to start using their accounts normally between 12.01am and 3am on 30 June.

Dozens said payments were now working and it was running some tests on the cards before putting them live again. Anna Money said it expected to be “fully functioning by the late morning, early afternoon”.

Dan Scholey, chief operating officer of Moneyhub, said: “The repercussions from the collapse of Wirecard have been felt by hundreds and thousands of consumers who had been caught up in the net of the FCA’s clampdown and unable to access cash from their accounts.

“The domino effect of the freeze shows that people do not have control over their own money when there is disruption from an external provider.”