Investors wiped over $36.4 million from the market value of payments player Cuscal in its first four hours trading on the ASX, with the biggest float of the year to date disappointing after regulators instructed the company to improve its risk controls and amid broader scepticism towards the sector.

When chief executive Craig Kennedy and chairwoman Elizabeth Proust rang the bell at the ASX’s Sydney headquarters at midday – inadvertently pulling the clapper off in the process – shares matched the offer price at $2.50, but by the close of the session they had sunk 7.6 per cent to $2.31.