An Australian appeal court has largely upheld a six-year ban from managing corporations against Nickolas John Karantzis, the former chief executive of payments firm iSignthis. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced the ruling today (Tuesday).
Karantzis now runs a listed European payments group. He is managing director and group chief executive of Xryma, the Cyprus-based e-money company formerly called ISX Financial EU, which won approval in July to list its shares on Euronext Paris.
The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia also kept A$11 million in penalties against him and the company. It amended the wording of one declaration against him and ordered both appellants to pay ASIC 's costs.
ASIC filed the case in December 2020, when Karantzis told FinanceMagnates.com that its claim contained "factual issues" he would contest in court.
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A Cyprus E-Money Group With Paris-Listed Shares
The ruling lands on a man who runs a regulated EU business. ISX Financial, whose main EU entity holds an e-money license from the Central Bank of Cyprus, renamed its parent Xryma in March 2026 and kept the ISX Financial brand for payment clients.
The group reported FY25 revenue of EUR 53.4 million, a figure that includes other income. Its Paris admission was a technical listing of 110 million existing shares, with no new capital raised.
When the first-instance penalties were imposed in August 2025, ISX's board said it had notified the competent authorities, as a licensed e-money institution must, and that the proceedings were civil.
The board said it "maintains full confidence in Mr Karantzis."
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It also said he had managed regulated financial companies since 2017, including the holding company of an ASIC-supervised market operator from March 2020 to March 2022. The appeal ruling leaves in place the same orders the trial court made in August 2025.
One-Off Revenue and a Lost Visa Relationship
The findings cover two sets of market filings, two years apart. A trial judge ruled in June 2024 that iSignthis told investors on August 3, 2018, that less than 15% of its quarterly revenue came from one-off or set-up fees.
That quarter carried about A$3 million of one-off revenue and about A$2.85 million of one-off costs that went undisclosed. From May 12, 2020, iSignthis also failed to tell investors that Visa had ended its relationship with it, or why.
Karantzis was found to have breached his duties as a director, including by failing to take reasonable steps to make sure what he told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) about the Visa termination was accurate.
"There is no room for spin," said Sarah Court, who leads ASIC.
By the time ASIC sued, iSignthis was already in court with the ASX, which had suspended its shares in October 2019. The company had raised its damages claim against the exchange above A$264 million.
It was renamed Southern Cross Payments in May 2022 and delisted that November. The appeal court said the harm from the conduct reached the integrity of the market and was not limited to losses suffered by identified shareholders.
The ruling comes in a period of heavier penalties from the regulator. ASIC secured A$349.8 million in civil penalties between July and December 2025, its highest six-month total, according to FM Intelligence, whose fines and warnings tracker logs the regulator's actions.
