Key Data

• Trading Name: Hawex
• Legal Entity: Hawex Group Ltd/Hawex Investment LLC
• Activities: AMD agent
• Location: London, UK
• Regulations: authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) 
• Key People: Romans Nekrutenko (LinkedIn)
  Maxim Kurbangaleev (LinkedIn)
  Jevgenijs Marenics (LinkedIn)
  Kirill Baldakov
  Ilya Karpov
  Vladislav Kuvshinov
  Ruchi Rathor
  Juris Liepa

Hawex is the trading name of the UK-registered Hawex Group Ltd, an FCA-regulated AMD agent authorized to distribute or redeem electronic money (e-money) and provide certain payment services on behalf of an e-money institution.

Until March 2022, UK-registered Hawex Group Ltd was controlled by the Russian Kirill Baldakov. Since October 2022, it has been controlled through Dubai-based Hawex Investment LLC, owned by Russians and Indian-British Ruchi Rathor. The director registered in the UK entity is Latvian Jevgenijs Marenics. The Similarweb data (right)for the last three months for Connectum suggests that the FCA-authorized payment processor does a significant amount of business with Russia.

Offering

Hawex is the agent for the FCA-regulated EMI PayTrees (PC42 profile) and offers IBAN-based bank accounts to individuals and businesses. Additionally, it provides acquiring solutions to merchants, including the high-risk segment and Russian merchants.

Their service includes:

Fees

Hawex demands a one-time set-up and onboarding fees of up to €100 for individuals and up to €2,500 for businesses.

For its acquiring services in the high-risk segment, Hawex demands an onboarding fee of €750 and a rolling reserve of 10% over 180 days.

Compliance problems

According to FinTelegram, Hawex Group is affiliated with and controlled by Ruchi Rathor (PR42 profile) , the co-founder of iPayTotal Group.

Hawex was also referred to Connectum through the Russian high-risk payment processor HoneyPay.

According to documents available on Fintelegram, Hawex traders transacted more than 81 million euros through Connectum in June. The traders are almost exclusively from the high-risk gambling, crypto or online marketing sectors. Most of these high-risk traders are based in Cyprus, followed by the UK and Estonia.

FCA-regulated payment institution Connectum was a notorious scam facilitator and money launderer for the fraudulent Israeli broker scene. It processed payments for the cybercrime organization of the convicted Israeli Gal Barak.

Conclusion

We rank Hawex in our “Black Compliance” list, due the fact that it is controlled by shady people.