International Money Express (IMXI) Risk Analysis

We operate in a highly regulated environment, and our business is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. We are also subject to oversight by various governmental agencies, both in the United States and abroad and, in any given year, we are subject to examinations by relevant federal and state agencies. Lawmakers and regulators in the United States in particular have increased their focus on the regulation of the financial services industry. New or modified regulations and increased oversight may have unforeseen or unintended adverse effects on the financial services industry, which could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The money transfer business is subject to a variety of regulations aimed at preventing money laundering, human trafficking and terrorism. We are subject to U.S. federal anti-money laundering laws, including the BSA and the requirements of the U.S. Treasury Department's OFAC, which prohibit us from transmitting money to specified countries or to or from prohibited individuals. Additionally, we are subject to anti-money laundering laws in the other countries and jurisdictions in which we operate and hold licenses including Europe, Mexico and Guatemala. We are also subject to financial services regulations, money transfer licensing regulations, consumer protection laws, currency control regulations, escheat laws, privacy and data protection laws and anti-bribery laws. Many of these laws are constantly evolving, unclear and inconsistent across various jurisdictions, making compliance challenging. Subsequent legislation, regulation, litigation, court rulings or other events could expose us to increased program costs, liability and reputational damage. As a MSB, we are subject to reporting, recordkeeping and anti-money laundering provisions in the United States as well as many other jurisdictions. In the past few years there have been significant regulatory reviews and actions taken by U.S. and other regulators and law enforcement agencies against banks, MSBs and other financial institutions related to money laundering, and the trend appears to be greater scrutiny by regulators of potential money laundering activity through financial institutions. We are also subject to regulatory oversight and enforcement by FinCEN. Any determination that we or our agents have violated the anti-money-laundering laws could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The Dodd-Frank Act increases the regulation and oversight of the financial services industry. The Dodd-Frank Act requires enforcement by various governmental agencies, including the CFPB. We could be subject to fines or other penalties if we are found to have violated the Dodd-Frank Act's prohibition against unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices. The CFPB's authority to change regulations adopted in the past by other regulators could increase our compliance costs and litigation exposure. Our litigation exposure may also be increased by the CFPB's authority to limit or ban pre-dispute arbitration clauses. We may also be liable for failure of our agents to comply with the Dodd-Frank Act. The legislation and implementation of regulations associated with the Dodd-Frank Act have increased our costs of compliance and required changes in the way we and our agents conduct business. In addition, we are subject to periodic examination by the CFPB. These examinations may require us to change the way we conduct business or increase the costs of compliance. In addition, we are subject to escheatment laws in the United States. We are subject to the laws of various states in the United States which from time to time take inconsistent or conflicting positions regarding the requirements to escheat property to a particular state, making compliance challenging. In some instances, we escheat items to states pursuant to statutory requirements and then subsequently pay those items to consumers. For such amounts, we must file claims for reimbursement from the states. Any violation by us or our agents of the laws and regulations set forth above could lead to significant settlements, fines or penalties and could limit our ability to conduct business in some jurisdictions. Our systems, employees and processes may not be sufficient to detect and prevent violations of the laws and regulations set forth above by our agents, which could also lead to us being subject to significant settlements, fines or penalties. In addition to these fines and penalties, a failure by us or our agents to comply with applicable laws and regulations also could seriously damage our reputation, result in diminished revenue and profit and increase our operating costs and could result in, among other things, revocation of required licenses or registrations, loss of approved status, termination of contracts with banks or retail representatives, administrative enforcement actions and fines, class action lawsuits, cease and desist or consent orders and civil and criminal liability. The occurrence of one or more of these events could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In certain cases, regulations may provide administrative discretion regarding enforcement. As a result, regulations may be applied inconsistently across the industry, which could result in additional costs for us that may not be required to be incurred by our competitors. If we were required to maintain a price higher than most of our competitors to reflect our regulatory costs, this could harm our ability to compete effectively, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, changes in laws, regulations or other industry practices and standards, or interpretations of legal or regulatory requirements, may reduce the market for or value of our services or render our services less profitable or obsolete. Changes in the laws affecting the kinds of entities that are permitted to act as money remittance agents (such as changes in requirements for capitalization or ownership) could adversely affect our ability to distribute our services and the cost of providing such services. Many of our sending agents in the United States are in the check cashing industry. Any regulatory action that negatively impacts check cashers could also cause this portion of our agent base to decline. If onerous regulatory requirements were imposed on our agents, the requirements could lead to a loss of agents, which, in turn, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Regulators around the world compare approaches to the regulation of the payments and other industries. Consequently, a development in any one country, state or region may influence regulatory approaches in other jurisdictions. Similarly, new laws and regulations in a country, state or region involving one service may cause lawmakers there to extend the regulations to another service. As a result, the risks created by any new laws or regulations are magnified by the potential that they may be replicated, affecting our business in another market or involving another service. Conversely, if widely varying regulations come into existence worldwide, we may have difficulty adjusting our services, fees, foreign exchange spreads and other important aspects of our business, with the same effect.

Our services remain susceptible to potentially illegal or improper uses as criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities involving internet services and payment services, such as identity theft, fraud and paper instrument counterfeiting. As we make more of our services available online and via Internet-enabled mobile devices, we subject ourselves to new types of consumer fraud risk because requirements relating to consumer authentication are more complex with Internet services and such other technologies. Additionally, it is possible that our agents or digital partners could engage in fraud against consumers. We use a variety of tools to protect against fraud; however, these tools may not always be successful. Allegations of fraud may result in fines, settlements, litigation expenses and reputational damage. Other illegal or improper uses of our services may include money laundering, terrorist financing, drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal online gaming, romance and other online scams, illegal sexually-oriented services, prohibited sales of pharmaceuticals, fraudulent sale of goods or services, piracy of software, movies, music and other copyrighted or trademarked goods, unauthorized uses of credit and debit cards or bank accounts and similar misconduct. Users of our services also may encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activities. If the measures we have taken are too restrictive it could diminish our customer experience which could harm our business. There is no assurance that the measures we have taken to detect and reduce the risk of this kind of conduct will stop all illegal or improper uses of our services. Our business could be harmed if consumers use our system for illegal or improper purposes.

The Intermex brand as well as other brands we operate under are critical to our business. We utilize trademark registrations and other tools to protect our brands. We have not applied for trademark registrations for our name and logo in all geographic markets where we provide services. In those markets where we have applied for trademark registrations, failure to secure those registrations could adversely affect our ability to enforce and defend our trademark rights. Our business would be harmed if we were unable to adequately protect our brands and the value of our brands was to decrease as a result. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark and copyright laws and trade secret protection and invention assignment, confidentiality or license agreements to protect the intellectual property rights related to our services, all of which only offer limited protection. We may be subject to third-party claims alleging that we infringe their intellectual property rights or have misappropriated other proprietary rights. We may be required to spend resources to defend such claims or to protect and police our own rights. Some of our legal rights in information or technology that we deem proprietary may not be protected by intellectual property laws, particularly in foreign jurisdictions. The loss of our intellectual property protection, the inability to secure or enforce intellectual property protection or to successfully defend against claims of intellectual property infringement or misappropriation could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.

We are engaged in ongoing efforts to enhance our risk management and compliance policies, procedures and systems to assure compliance with anti-money laundering laws and economic sanctions regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We have implemented, and are continuing to implement, policies, procedures and systems designed to address these laws and regulations, including monitoring on an automated and manual basis the transactions processed through our systems and restricting business involving certain countries or individuals. However, the implementation of such policies, procedures and systems may be subject to human error. Further, we may be exposed to fraud or other misconduct committed by our employees, or other third parties, including but not limited to consumers, agents and digital partners, or other events that are out of our control. Additionally, our risk management policies, procedures and systems are based upon our experience in the industry, and may not be adequate or effective in managing our future risk exposures or protecting us against unidentified or unanticipated risks, which could be significantly greater than those indicated by our past experience. As a result, we can offer no assurances that these policies, procedures and systems will be adequate to detect or prevent money laundering activity or OFAC violations. If any of these policies, procedures or systems do not operate properly, or are disabled, or are subject to intentional manipulation or inadvertent human error, we could suffer financial loss, a disruption of our business, regulatory intervention or reputational damage.

Our future growth will depend, in part, on our success in expanding customer acceptance of our digital services and infrastructure, as well as our ability to continue to develop and successfully introduce new and enhanced methods of providing money remittance services, including the introduction of new digital platforms and other products and services, that keep pace with competitive introductions, technological changes, and the demands and preferences of our agents, consumers, digital partners and the financial institutions with which we conduct our business. Distribution channels such as online, account based, and mobile solutions continue to evolve and impact the competitive environment for money remittances. If we fail to gain customer acceptance of our digital services and products or if alternative payment mechanisms become widely accepted as substitutes for our current services, and we do not develop and offer similar alternative payment mechanisms successfully and on a timely basis, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. We may make future acquisitions and investments or enter into strategic alliances to develop new technologies and services or to implement infrastructure changes to further our strategic objectives, strengthen our existing businesses and remain competitive. Such acquisitions, investments and strategic alliances, however, are inherently risky, and we cannot guarantee that such investments or strategic alliances will be successful.

Our business relies on the free flow of funds and migrants along all of our remittance corridors, particularly between the United States and the LAC. Changes in U.S. political, regulatory and economic conditions or laws and policies governing immigration, foreign trade, development and investment in the territories and countries where we operate and our customers live, including those recently implemented by the U.S. government, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.