LIETUVOS BANKAS BANK OF LITHUANIA SUPERVISION SERVICE

Transcription

1 LIETUVOS BANKAS BANK OF LITHUANIA SUPERVISION SERVICE According to the list of addressees date No Ref RE: NEW REQUIREMENTS OF THE LEGAL ACTS IN RELATION TO LICENCES OF THE PAYMENT INSTITUTIONS AND ELECTRONIC MONEY INSTITUTIONS Hereby the Bank of Lithuania would like to notify that as of 1 August 2018 the Law Amending the Republic of Lithuania Law on Payments No VIII-1370 (hereinafter referred to as the Law Amending the LP ), the Law Amending the Republic of Lithuania Law on Payment Institutions No XI-549 (hereinafter referred to as the Law Amending the LPI ) and the Law Amending the Republic of Lithuania Law on Electronic Money and Electronic Money Institutions No XI-1868 (hereinafter referred to as the Law Amending the LEMI ) adopted on 17 April 2018 and implementing the provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (hereinafter referred to as the Directive ) will come into force. Furthermore, on 1 August 2018, 12 June 2018 Resolution No of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania On the Amendment of 24 December 2009 Resolution No 238 of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania On Granting Authorisations of the Bank of Lithuania to Electronic Money and Payment Institutions amending (recasting) the Rules for the Licensing of Electronic Money and Payment Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the Licencing Rules ) and the Rules for the Issuance of Permit to Reorganise or Liquidate the Electronic Money and Payment Institution and declaring the Rules on the Requirements for the Heads of Electronic Money and Payment Institutions and Members of Management Bodies of the Agent and Notification about the Heads of Electronic Money and Payment Institutions null and void will come into force The afore-mentioned legal acts are published in the Register of Legal Acts and on the website of the Bank of Lithuania at By this letter the Bank of Lithuania would like to draw your attention to the requirements which must be complied with by the payment institutions and electronic money institutions planning to engage in activities after the afore-mentioned legal acts come into force. Please note that this letter is drawn up according to the provisions of the adopted legal acts; therefore, after amendments to the afore-mentioned legal acts made after preparation of this letter, the explanations, terms and other information provided in the letter may change. Taking this into account, it is recommended to regularly track published amendments to the legal acts. Centrinis bankas, Gedimino pr. 6, LT Vilnius, Duomenys kaupiami ir saugomi Juridinių asmenų registre, kodas Tarnyba: Žirmūnų g. 151, LT Vilnius, tel. (8 5) , faks. (8 5) , el. p. pt@lb.lt

2 2 It should be pointed out that, in all cases, the provisions of the legal acts implementing the Directive must be observed and this letter cannot be considered as an interpretation of application of the legal rules and authorisation to act in the particular case. 1. Regarding the payment service provided for in paragraph 7 of Article 5 of the currently valid Law on Payment The list of payment services provided for in Article 5 of the Law on Payments (hereinafter referred to as the LP ) which is laid down in Article 1 of the Law Amending the LP shall be amended, i.e. the list of payment services does not contain the payment service, i.e. execution of payment transactions where the consent of the payer to execute a payment transaction is given by means of any telecommunications terminal equipment, digital or IT device and the payment is made to the telecommunications network or IT system operator, acting only as an intermediary between the supplier of the goods or services and the payment service user, provided for in paragraph 7 of Article 5 of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Payments valid till 1 August 2018 (hereinafter referred to as the LP (before 1 August 2018) ) any longer. After the legal acts implementing the Directive come into force, the licence granting the right to provide the afore-mentioned payment service shall entitle to provide the payment service provided for in paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the LP, i.e. execution of payment transactions, including transfers of funds on a payment account with the payment service provider of the payment service user or with another payment service provider: execution of direct debits, including one-off direct debits, execution of payment transactions through a payment card or a similar device and/or execution of credit transfers, including standing orders. On 1 August 2018, the Bank of Lithuania will change entries in the licences granting the right to provide the payment service provided for in paragraph 7 of Article 5 of the LP (before 1 August 2018). The payment and electronic money institutions will not have to additionally apply to the Bank of Lithuania for this. 2. Regarding the duty of the payment institutions and electronic money institutions to provide additional documents Paragraph 5 of Article 2 of the Law Amending the LPI and paragraph 6 of Article 2 of the Law Amending the LEMI set forth that the institutions having a payment institution licence or electronic money institution licence must furnish the Bank of Lithuania with the documents, data and/or information evidencing that they comply with all requirements for obtaining the respective licence set forth in the newly adopted legal acts not later than till 1 November Please note that the afore-mentioned duty is established only for the payment and electronic money institutions having a full licence; therefore, the payment institutions having a licence for restricted activity or electronic money institutions having a licence of an electronic money institution to engage in restricted activities are not obliged to provide additional documents, information and/or data evidencing conformity of the institutions with the licencing requirements to the Bank of Lithuania. In the light of the provisions of the Law on Payment Institutions, the Law on Electronic Money and Electronic Money Institutions and the Licensing Rules which will come into force on 1 August 2018, the Bank of Lithuania has prepared a question on conformity of the payment institution or electronic payment institution with the licensing requirements (attached to this letter and published on the website of the Bank of Lithuania at The prepared questionnaire is a guidance document; thus, the payment institutions and electronic money institutions may provide

3 3 documents, data and/or information evidencing conformity with the respective requirements of the legal acts to the Bank of Lithuania without observing the structure recommended in the questionnaire. It should be noted that: the institutions must provide the documents, data and/or information which has not been provided to the Bank of Lithuania or which was provided to the Bank of Lithuania but has changed after provision of the data; taking into account the regulation which will come into force on 1 August 2018, the members of the supervisory board of the payment institutions and electronic money institutions (if any) must meet the reputation, qualification and experience requirements; therefore, the Bank of Lithuania must be furnished with revised questionnaires of the members of the supervisory board (if any) of the payment institutions and electronic money institutions till 1 November 2018; in the light of the fact that the Bank of Lithuania shall carry out supervision of the requirements of the initial capital and equity capital set forth in Articles 14 and 16 of the Law on Payment Institutions (version valid since 1 August 2018) and Articles 22 and 24 of the Law on Electronic Money and Electronic Money Institutions (version valid since 1 August 2018) after Report on Calculation of the Initial Capital and the Equity Capital together with other reports intended for supervision provided through the information system of the Bank of Lithuania on 31 December 2018 from the electronic payment institutions and payment institutions, the electronic payment institutions and payment institutions are not requested to provide information evidencing conformity with the afore-mentioned requirements of the initial capital and equity capital in the questionnaire; if the payment or electronic money institution fails to provide the documents, data and/or information evidencing conformity of the institutions with the new applicable requirements for obtaining a payment or electronic money institution licence till 1 November 2018 and/or fails to ensure compliance with the requirements for obtaining a payment institution licence provided for in Article 5 of the Law on Payment Institutions (version valid since 1 August 2018) and the requirements for obtaining an electronic money institution licence provided for in Article 13 of the Law on Electronic Money and Electronic Money Institutions (version valid since 1 August 2018) till 1 February 2019, the Bank of Lithuania will have the right to impose the sanctions provided for in the legal acts (paragraph 6 of Article 2 of the Law Amending the LPI and paragraph 7 of Article 2 of the Law Amending the LEMI). 3. Regarding initiation of a payment and provision of the account information services The institutions which provided payment initiation and account information provision services till 1 August 2018 and are planning to continue provision of such services must apply to the Bank of Lithuania for amending (supplementing) the licence. When applying to the Bank of Lithuania for supplementing the licence with the payment services set out in paragraphs 7 and/or 8 of Article 5 of the LP the institutions must furnish the Bank of Lithuania with the documents, data and/or information provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the Law on Payment Institutions (version valid since 1 August 2018), except for the cases where such documents, data and/or information have already been provided to the Bank of Lithuania and have not changed. When submitting a request for supplementing the respective licence with the account information and/or payment initiation services, the Bank of Lithuania must be provided with the

4 4 following: 1) request to amend the licence, 2) programme of operations; 3) business plan; 4) professional indemnity insurance contract or other documents supporting other equivalent liability ensuring measures and specification and justification of calculation of the amount of insurance or another equivalent liability ensuring measure. The European Banking Authority has drawn up guidelines on the criteria on how to stipulate the minimum monetary amount of the professional indemnity insurance or other comparable guarantee. Furthermore, the European Banking Authority prepared a tool for calculating the minimum monetary amount of the professional indemnity insurance or other comparable guarantee. The afore-mentioned documents are available here. The afore-mentioned insurance or guarantee is mandatory for the payment and electronic money institutions providing payment initiation services or account information services and the criteria establish the amount of the insurance or guarantee. In fulfilment of the financial market supervision functions assigned to it, the Bank of Lithuania will follow the afore-mentioned guidelines. The guidelines should also be followed by the payment institutions and electronic money institutions providing payment initiation or account information services established in Lithuania; 5) other documents and data indicated in Part B of Annex 1 to the Licencing Rules (for electronic money institutions) or Part B of Annex 2 to the Licencing Rules (for payment institutions) which have changed due to plans to provide additional payment services (paragraph 11 of the Licensing Rules). The licences will be changed by granting the right to provide the afore-mentioned services under special (quicker) procedure, i.e. when the institutions provide a request for amending the licence and necessary documents, the issued licence will be amended within 20 working days and assessment if the institution meets the established requirements which must be met in order to provide the services will be carried out within 3 months from the date of provision of the request and submission of all documents set out in the legal acts (and additionally requested documents), i.e. first of all, the licence will be amended and then assessment will be carried out by the Bank of Lithuania. The institutions may take advantage of this possibility till 1 November 2018 (paragraphs 8 and 9 of Article 2 of the Law Amending the LPI and paragraphs 8 and 9 of Article 2 of the Law Amending the LEMI). Requests for amending (supplementing) the licence with the payment initiation and/or account information services may also be submitted till the date of entry into force of the legal acts indicated in this letter (1 August 2018). ENCLOSED. Questionnaire on Conformity of the Payment Institution or Electronic Money Institution with the Licensing Requirements (3 pages). Title of position Name and surname

5 Agnė Kazlauskienė, tel. (8 5) , 5