FinTech and payments: licence, partners, AML and accounts for a payments business
Payment services, EMI agents, neobanks on someone else’s licence, PSPs for niche industries. We help you choose between your own authorisation and a partner model, meet a correspondent bank’s AML requirements, and sign with providers so that you never depend on just one.
The tasks clients came to us with
An EMI agent instead of an own licence: launched in four months
The founders wanted to apply for an EMI licence in Lithuania with a budget that would cover a year of waiting. We proposed starting as an agent of an existing EMI: agreed terms with the principal, wrote AML policies to the principal’s and the Bank of Lithuania’s requirements, and set up a UK company for sales. The product launched in four months; the own licence is planned for year two.
A PSP for the affiliate industry: an AML framework the correspondent bank accepted
A payment service could not open a correspondent account: the bank considered its client base too risky. We rewrote the client acceptance policy, introduced merchant risk scoring and transaction monitoring with thresholds. With the new framework the account opened at a second bank, and the first came back with an offer six months later.
A structure for a payments business with clients in the Gulf
A company with a Lithuanian licence was entering the UAE market and did not know whether local authorisation was needed. We worked out which services could be provided cross-border and which required a UAE central bank licence, set up a free-zone company for marketing and support, and separated the flows of funds. The expansion went ahead without breaching the terms of the European licence.
What exactly we do for FinTech and payments
Structuring
The licensed company, sales and technology in separate entities.
Licences and regulation
Your own authorisation or a partner’s, depending on timeline and budget.
Accounts and partners
Correspondent and safeguarding accounts.
Investment and deals
A round or a sale of a licensed company, with regulatory approval.
Contracts
Merchant and provider agreements that stand up to the regulator’s audit.
Tax
The VAT exemption for financial services and the group’s corporate tax.
What we have written about FinTech and payments
Nutra merchant accounts: what high-risk acquirers actually require
Nutra high-risk merchant account requirements come down to four files an acquirer underwrites, not one: substantiation for every product claim, […]
Read articleWhy banks reject high-risk business account applications
Banks reject high-risk business account applications for one narrow legal reason: the compliance team could not complete customer due diligence […]
Read articleA practical legal checklist before a token sale
Token sales sit at the intersection of securities law, payments regulation and consumer protection. The legal groundwork you lay before […]
Read articleLaunching a payments product or looking for a licence?
Tell us which services, for whom and in which countries — we will say which authorisation model fits and how long it takes.
- A reply within one working day
- The first consultation is 30 minutes
- Confidential, no obligation