Pay-day lender Wonga is to close its Dublin office by the middle of next year as part of a cost-cutting programme.
The provider of controversial, short-term loans charged at high interest rates is to cut 325 jobs worldwide as it seeks to reorganise its business in the face of tighter regulation.
Wonga’s loans can currently carry an APR of up to 1,509% but Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has moved to cap that at a much lower level.
Payday lenders are now no longer allowed to roll over a loan more than twice and they can make only two unsuccessful attempts to claw money back out of a borrower's account.
Wonga said it would now undertake a “strategic refocus” in order to introduce changes to ensure it lends “fairly and responsibly”.
This would make the company smaller and less profitable in the short-term, it’s chairman Andy Haste said, with its workforce halving as part of the move.
This restructuring will see its office in Tel Aviv close later this year, with its Dublin office being shut by mid-2016.
Both office supported its British-based operations but this will now be managed from London and Cape Town.
Wonga also announced that, following discussions over several months, it has agreed to sell Everline, its small business lending brand, to Orange Money, a small to medium sized enterprises-focused lending business trading as Ezbob.
Police recently ruled out a criminal investigation into Wonga over the scandal in which it chased customers with fake legal letters to pressure them into paying up.
City of London Police said that, after a "thorough review", it has concluded "there was not sufficient evidence to progress a criminal investigation".
Last June, Wonga agreed with the FCA to pay £2.6m in compensation for the letters it sent to 45,000 consumers from non-existent law firms.
Wonga is Britain's biggest payday lender, with more than one million active customers.
