ABTA has confirmed Allbury Travel Group was the only association member that is a client of embattled credit card processing firm E-Clear.
The East Mediterranean specialist tour operator ceased trading on Friday night after a rescue being brokered by E-Clear failed to materialise.
E-Clear, as well as processing Allbury’s payments, was also linked to it via E-Clear chief executive Elias Elia, who headed the group’s Jersey-based parent.
An ABTA spokeswoman said the results of an audit nine months ago showed that Allbury was the only ABTA member and E-Clear client.
Globespan, the failed Scottish operator and E-Clear client reportedly owed £35 million by the credit card firm, had been a member but was not at the time of the collapse.
Speaking on Friday, an E-Clear spokesman could not confirm how many travel industry clients it has but it is known to have been linked to several major failures, including XL Leisure Group, Zoom and Sky Europe.
The ABTA spokeswoman confirmed that customers who had booked with Allbury or Globespan using their credit cards would not lose their money.
She said, even though the payment may be held by E-Clear, customers’ credit card companies are liable to recompense for lost holidays not covered by Atol.
This raises the prospect that last week’s collapses will see big players in the world of finance such as Visa and Mastercard chasing E-Clear for their money.
Clients of E-Clear are understood to have been written to last year to advise them that a relationship with Deutsche Bank, which acted as guarantor, had ended on August 31, 2008 and moved to another smaller German bank.