E-money and payments · Bank of Lithuania
Lithuanian e-money and payment institution licensing (Bank of Lithuania)
Lithuania made a deliberate policy decision to attract payments firms and now hosts one of the largest populations of authorised e-money institutions in Europe. That concentration is a real asset: the supervisor knows the business model in detail and the local market of compliance professionals has depth that newer jurisdictions cannot match.
The regulator
The Bank of Lithuania authorises and supervises payment and e-money institutions as the national central bank. Having licensed the sector at scale, it has since tightened its expectations markedly, and firms arriving on the strength of the jurisdiction’s old reputation for speed tend to be surprised.
What the licence permits
Regulated under the Bank of Lithuania
- Issue electronic money to Lithuanian and EEA customers
- Execute payment transactions and acquire for merchants
- Provide payment initiation and account aggregation services
- Passport into all thirty EEA states from Vilnius
Who it suits
Fintech-native firms that want a supervisor fluent in the model, and businesses that value an ecosystem of peers, advisers, and infrastructure providers in one place.
Market access
Full EEA passporting from a euro area member state, with an established payments infrastructure.
What to weigh
The regime is materially more demanding than the marketing of a few years ago suggests, particularly on governance and on genuine local substance. Treat it as a serious EU application, not a fast track.
We run the Lithuania application end to end
Whether you build from new or acquire an existing licensed entity, BrokLicense handles incorporation, the regulator application, the AML and compliance framework, safeguarding and banking arrangements, and the operating stack. You stay the principal. We do the work, in confidence, and stay on for compliance once you are live.
Cost, capital, and timelines depend on your model and are set out in a first consultation, under NDA, not published here.
Other permissions in Lithuania
Related reading
- EMI vs Payment Institution: Which Licence Does Your Payments Business Actually Need?An e-money licence and a payment institution licence look interchangeable and are not. One lets you hold stored value, the other only moves it. Here is the line.
- How to Get an EMI Licence: What Electronic Money Authorisation Actually InvolvesAn EMI application is a business case, not a form. Here is what regulators examine, in what order, and where applications realistically stall.
- Where to Base an EMI: Choosing a Jurisdiction for an E-Money LicenceEvery EEA e-money licence passports to the same thirty markets, so the choice is not about reach. It is about the regulator, the banking, and the substance you can staff.
- Safeguarding: The Requirement That Decides Whether Your EMI Survives SupervisionSafeguarding is the single obligation supervisors test hardest at payments firms, and the one most often got wrong. Here is what compliant actually looks like.
E-money and payments in other Europe jurisdictions
- United KingdomFCA
- ItalyBanca d'Italia
- GermanyBaFin
- SpainBanco de España
- AustriaFMA
- IrelandCentral Bank of Ireland
Discuss your mandate in confidence
Every engagement begins under a mutual NDA. Set out the firm you intend to operate and the timeline you are working to, and you leave the first consultation with a recommended jurisdiction, the route to the licence, and a defined scope of work.
Prefer email? info@broklicense.com