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Licensing and supervision of electronic money institutions


1.  The provision of electronic money services in the Republic of Cyprus (the “Republic”) is regulated by the provisions of The Electronic Money Laws of 2012 and 2018 (‘‘the Law’’) which transposed into national law the following directives of the European Parliament and of the Council:

a) 2009/110/EC of 16 September 2009 on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions; and

b) (EU) 2015/2366 of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market (also known as PSD2).

 

2. For the provision of electronic money services in the Republic an authorisation must be granted by the Central Bank of Cyprus (the ‘‘CBC’’) or by any other member state of the European Union (EU) pursuant to the right of establishment and the freedom to provide services, in accordance with the provisions set out in the Law.

For more information please refer to the below Commission Regulation which is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all member states.

- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/2055 of 23 June 2017 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards for the cooperation and exchange of information between competent authorities relating to the exercise of the right of establishment and the freedom to provide services of payment institutions (Text with EEA relevance.)
 

3.  The CBC shall grant authorisation to an electronic money institution only if it is a legal person incorporated in the Republic where it is required to have its registered and head office and must carry out at least part of its electronic money service business and/or provision of payment services that are not related with the issuing of electronic money.

In order to obtain an authorisation as an electronic money institution, an application should be submitted to the CBC together with all the information referred to in subsections (3) to (8) of section 5 of The Provision and Use of Payment Services and Access to Payment Systems Laws of 2018 to 2023.  These subsections are applied proportionately on electronic money institutions according to the provisions set out in section 4A of the Law.  It is noted that the application must include a receipt of the payment of the relevant application fee which should be deposited in the account - "APPLICATION FEES" with IBAN CY65 0010 0001 0000 0000 0772 3042.

The European Banking Authority has issued guidelines (EBA/GL/2017/09) which are fully adopted by the CBC, regarding the content of the information which must be disclosed to the competent authorities when submitting an application to obtain authorisation as an electronic money institution.

The relevant application forms are shown hereinbelow.  The updated application form for authorisation as an electronic money institution, as per the link below, should be used for applications submitted from 6 December 2021 onwards.

Application for authorisation as an electronic money institution - (EMI)

Application by a legal person wishing to hold a qualifying holding - (QHL)

Application by a natural person wishing to hold a qualifying holding - (QHN)

Application by a natural person wishing to be appointed as a member of the management body or key function holder (MMB/KFH)

Time Commitment Table

Applications and relevant documentation should be submitted via the CBC’s e-platform. For further details and relevant instructions please send an email request to licensingsection@centralbank.cy

In advance of submitting an application, prospective applicants are advised to refer to the below list of common errors observed in applications in order for these to be avoided:

Applications for the authorisation of electronic money institutions - common errors observed

 

 

4.  When an authorised electronic money institution, the Republic of which constitutes a home member state, intends to provide payment services in the Republic or in a member state other than the Republic, through an agent, it shall complete the following questionnaire which applies for payment institutions and submit it to the CBC together with relevant information, pursuant to the provisions of sections 2 and 4A of the Law.

Application Form for the appointment of agents by a Payment Institution

 

5.  The CBC has issued the Electronic Money Institutions Directive of 2012 in relation to the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions.

 

6.  Limited network exclusion

For the provision of services based on payment instruments that can be used only in a limited way, under the scope of Article 3(k) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2), which was transposed as Section 3(2)(a) of the Law, the CBC has adopted the Guidelines EBA/GL/2022/2 on the limited network exclusion under the Directive (EU) 2015/2366, that were issued by the European Banking Authority (EBA) for that purpose, effective 1 June 2022. 

Any entity that provides services falling under the scope of Section 3(2)(a) of the Law should refer to these Guidelines.

 

7.  Electronic Money Institutions’ Registers

The CBC, by virtue of the provisions of the Law, maintains public registers providing the following information:

a) the electronic money institutions to which authorisation was granted, their branches, the persons authorised to distribute the electronic money issued and their agents where payment services are provided that are not related with the issuing of electronic money; and

b) the electronic money institutions that have been authorised by an EU competent authority and which have exercised their right of establishment and freedom to provide payment services according to the provisions set out in the Law.

The Registers are available at the following links:

 

For more information please contact the Licensing Section of the Central Bank of Cyprus at 22714403, licensingsection@centralbank.cy