Fintech Lithuania

• Assisting British finance company GUAVAPAY LIMITED on the EMI licensing in Lithuania.
• Advised French finance company group SARL MVM FINANCE in obtaining Payment Institution licence in Lithuania and on payment service regulatory matters.
• Assisted Latvian companies group B-Bus regarding 6.8 million Eur value purchase and getting financing from Baltikums Bank AS, now AS BlueOrange Bank.
• Advised Israeli Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending Platform operators in entering the EU payments market through Lithuania and obtaining P2P licence.
• Assisted UAB TRANSREVIS regarding 4.7 million Eur value purchase and getting financing from AB DNB bank, now Luminor Bank AB.
• Assisted Polish law firm and its client on the EMI licensing in Lithuania.
• Assisted Novum Company in preparation of EMI accounting policy.

• Minimum equity capital requirement for an electronic money institution (EMI) is 350.000 EUR.
• A licence issued in Lithuania may be passported to other EEA countries. In other words, the licence granted in Lithuania allows to carry out electronic money institution business in other EEA countries after a notification procedure.
• Electronic money institutions can join SEPA payment infrastructure and offer their clients personal accounts with IBAN codes.
• Electronic money institution licence can be issued within 3 months (about 6 to 9 months faster than other EEA countries).
• All licensing documents can be submitted in English language.
• The Bank of Lithuania offers a possibility to test a business idea in a real environment without obtaining full authorisation (regulatory sandbox). The basic difference is that an electronic money institution engaged in restricted activities is not subject to the minimum equity capital requirement.

The Law provides that electronic money institution (EMI) shall be entitled to not only issuing electronic money, but also providing payment services, e.g. issuing and/or acquiring of payment instruments, money transfers and other services. Due to this reason, an EMI differs from a payment institution in that an EMI may withhold client funds, whereas payment institutions cannot do so.

From 2017 January 1 new regime applies to specialized banks in Lithuania. This regime could be used for payment and electronic money institutions which are considering expanding the scope of their services and increasing security for their customers.

Minimum equity capital requirement for specialized bank is 1.000.000 EUR (comparing to full service banks 5.000.000 EUR).

The specialized bank licence may be passported to other EEA countries.

The specialized bank licence is issued within 6 months, extensions are possible, to a maximum term of 12 months.

Services authorized for specialized banks:

• Issuing e-money
• Payment services
• Lending including mortgage credit
• Taking of deposits and other repayable funds
• Financial leasing
• Issuing and administering other means of payment
• Guarantees and commitments
• Financial intermediation
• Administration of funds
• Credit reference services
• Safe custody services
• Currency exchange

The specialized banks are not authorised to provide investment services, engage in asset management business or other activities of a similar nature.

• A crowdfunding platform operator can provide execution-only services and offer investment-only recommendations related to crowdfunding transactions. An operator who wishes to offer other investment services it must apply for the full investment firm or banking licence.
• An entity seeking to operate a crowdfunding platform must be included in the public list of crowdfunding platform operators managed by the Bank of Lithuania and comply with other requirements (including capital sufficiency, risk management and governance requirements).
• The crowdfunding platform operators will only be authorised to offer their services in Lithuania (no passporting).
• Registration takes up to 30 business days.
• All licensing documents can be submitted in English language.
• Minimum equity capital requirement for a crowdfunding platform – 40.000 EUR. However, equity capital cannot be less than the larger of the following amounts: 40.000 EUR or 0.2% of the amount of outstanding funds financed through the crowdfunding platform and not repaid to investors.

• An entity seeking to operate a peer-to-peer lending platform must be included in the public list of peer-to-peer lending platform operators managed by the Bank of Lithuania and comply with other requirements (including capital sufficiency, risk management and governance requirements).
• The authorised capital of an operator should be at least 40.000 EUR.
• An operator must prepare and approve a business continuity plan setting measures and procedures to ensure that peer-to-peer lending platform activities are carried out continuously and without interruption.
• An operator must publish certain information about itself and the lending process on its website as well as disclosing certain information to the lender prior to concluding a loan agreement.
• Borrowers are subject to creditworthiness assessment, which must be done in accordance with the Law on Consumer Credit.
• A platform operator may calculate its commission fee only from repayments already made by the borrower to the lender.
• Registration takes up to 30 business days.
• All licensing documents can be submitted in English language.