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Wallets, prepaid cards, virtual IBANs and Banking-as-a-Service programmes. Licensing, safeguarding and programme banking for firms that issue electronic money.
Selected engagements from more than 250 licences obtained since 2013, for payment, e-money and cryptoasset firms.
Volkswagen
Electronic Money InstitutionObtained Own Solutions’ Central Bank of Ireland Electronic Money Institution licence.
Electronic Money InstitutionObtained Dzing Finance’s FCA Authorised Electronic Money Institution licence.
Electronic Money InstitutionObtained Hryze’s FCA Electronic Money Institution licence.
We obtain the licence, open the safeguarding accounts and set up the card programmes for wallet providers, card programmes and BaaS platforms in the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United Kingdom, with safeguarding run on Safeheld.
Money transmitter licences in the United States, EMI licences in every EU and EEA state, and the local licence in Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and the United Kingdom.
Safeguarding accounts and daily reconciliation on Safeheld.
Scheme membership, issuing processors and BIN sponsorship.
BaaS and programme access while the licence is in progress.
A business that holds customer balances, through a wallet, a prepaid card or an account with its own IBAN (international bank account number), issues e-money (stored value that customers load and spend) and needs an e-money licence or its local equivalent. In the United States that means state money transmitter licences with FinCEN registration. One EU licence covers the EU and EEA, while Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and the United Kingdom each license separately, so the choice starts with where your customers are.
One licence per market and one passport for Europe. The choice starts with where your customers are.
There is no e-money licence. A wallet that holds and transfers customer funds holds a money transmitter licence in each state that requires one and registers with FinCEN. Net worth and surety bonds start at US$100,000 by state; six to eight months for a multistate programme.
€350,000 of initial capital in every state, passported across the EU and EEA. Lithuania hosts the most e-money institutions, at four to six months. Ireland charges no application fee and expects control functions in the country; we obtained Own Solutions’ licence there.
Hong Kong licenses wallets as stored value facilities, with paid-up capital of HK$25 million. Singapore requires a major payment institution licence once the average daily float exceeds S$5 million. The UAE licenses stored value onshore, with AED 15 million of paid-up capital.
An authorised EMI holds €350,000 of capital and pays a £5,640 fee. A small EMI registers for £1,130 up to €5 million of average outstanding e-money and serves the UK only. A UK licence no longer passports into the EU.
Serves the UK under transitional arrangements to 31 December 2026, with no EU passport.
Safeguarding, settlement and cards for new and established issuers, arranged through our direct relationships with banks, e-money institutions and payment providers.
Accounts ready to take balances on the day the licence is granted for new issuers. For licensed issuers, new currencies, a second safeguarding bank or a replacement for a bank that has withdrawn.
A safeguarding account that keeps customer balances apart, with the acknowledgement letter the regulator requires, an operating account and settlement accounts in each currency. See banking and payment processing.
A place on the card schemes, as a member or sponsored, an issuing processor and the scheme’s programme approval, for a first programme or a new card product.
Account numbers in each customer’s name, routed to your safeguarding structure, so customers receive salaries, invoices and transfers straight into their wallet.
In Hong Kong the float sits in a trust that gives users priority in insolvency. In the UAE it is held in segregated accounts with licensed banks and reconciled daily.
Safeguarding, capital and reporting, run every day. One in-house team runs the programme, with your local team in place where the regulator expects people on the ground.
Reporting to the home regulator on own funds of at least 2% of average outstanding e-money, notice before passporting into each new country, and management and control kept in the licensing state.
In Hong Kong the chief executive lives in Hong Kong and the HKMA reads independent assessments of float management, technology risk and anti-money laundering controls. In Singapore, e-money is safeguarded from the moment it is received.
The FCA’s client-assets standard since 7 May 2026: reconciliation on every reconciliation day, a resolution pack (the records an administrator would use to return funds), a monthly return and an annual safeguarding audit.
The MLRO, safeguarding, transaction monitoring, regulatory returns and the audit file. See safeguarding and client assets.
Bespoke white-label technology for e-money businesses: wallets, multi-currency accounts with virtual IBANs, payments, and prepaid and debit cards, built to your flow of funds and your licence.
Customer checks, sanctions screening and transaction monitoring are specified from the first design, so policy and system match when the regulator reviews them.
Daily reconciliation produces the records the monthly return, the resolution pack and the annual audit draw on.
A wallet or card product goes live in as little as one month under a licensed partner’s programme, then migrates to your own licence. See BaaS and programmes.
A new issuer receives licence, technology, safeguarding and cards on one date. A licensed issuer adds products and markets on the same platform, or moves onto it from one it has outgrown.
An authorised EMI brings the licence, the capital base, the safeguarding accounts and the card scheme relationships in one transaction. The regulator approves the new owner before completion.
In the UK, the FCA has 60 working days from a complete notice, with one pause of up to 20 working days, or 30 for a buyer outside the UK. Approval is needed at each threshold of 10%, 20%, 30% and 50%. EU regulators run a comparable assessment.
Three weeks, with the safeguarding, reconciliation and capital records tested and the findings priced into the deal.
An acquisition in an EU state gives a passported licence from completion. A firm that already holds a licence can extend it through a variation of permission instead, as we did for Moneliq.
Our marketplace lists authorised EMIs and small EMIs in the EU and the UK, each checked against its regulator’s public register.
Yes. A wallet that holds and transfers customer funds is a money transmitter: it registers with FinCEN as a money services business and holds a money transmitter licence in each state that requires one. Net worth and surety bonds start at US$100,000 by state, and we plan for six to eight months for a multistate programme.
An e-money institution licence from one EU state, which passports across the EU and EEA. Initial capital is €350,000 in every state, with own funds of at least 2% of average outstanding e-money. Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Malta are the most common bases, and we plan for four to eight months after submission depending on the state.
An e-money institution issues stored value that customers hold and spend, such as a wallet balance or a prepaid card, and may also provide every payment service. A payment institution moves money without holding balances. A business that will hold customer balances applies for the e-money licence, with €350,000 of initial capital.
Yes, where the card holds a balance that the customer loads and spends with other merchants; in the EU and the UK that balance is e-money. A card programme can launch sooner under a licensed issuer's programme and move to your own licence once granted, with scheme sponsorship and an issuing processor arranged alongside.
Paid-up share capital of HK$25 million, or an approved equivalent, as a floor the HKMA may raise. The licence fee is HK$113,020 on grant and each year. The float sits in a trust that gives users priority in insolvency, and the chief executive lives in Hong Kong. We plan for nine to twelve months after submission.
Once the average daily e-money float exceeds S$5 million, or monthly transactions exceed S$3 million for one service or S$6 million across two or more. The major licence carries base capital of S$250,000 and a security deposit of S$100,000 or S$200,000. Below the thresholds, a standard licence with S$100,000 base capital applies.
The licence, the banking and the timing for your business.