Help on EMI setup

[Btraveler]

Hello there,

I was wondering which steps are necessary to open an little EMI which can work global but with the lesser requisites. I've seen, for example, that Payeer uses a Vanuatu Financial Services license, which I assume maybe is easy to obtain and so.

A colleague wants to start with it and I want to help him on the legal and banking issues. Thank you in advance, every help will be appreciate

 

[Clip]

Hello there,

I was wondering which steps are necessary to open an little EMI which can work global but with the lesser requisites. I've seen, for example, that Payeer uses a Vanuatu Financial Services license, which I assume maybe is easy to obtain and so.

A colleague wants to start with it and I want to help him on the legal and banking issues. Thank you in advance, every help will be appreciate

With wich budget?

Cook islands is a good destination

 

[Btraveler]

With wich budget?

Cook islands is a good destination

Hello @GiGoGo Which is the price on there? Vanuatu is about 40K $ to be paid to Vanuatu government. I'm looking for a cheaper solution

 

[Clip]

Hello @GiGoGo Which is the price on there? Vanuatu is about 40K $ to be paid to Vanuatu government. I'm looking for a cheaper solution

Difficult to find anything cheaper and reliable. For Cook Island includes trips there to talk with the regulator, after that they can be quite flexible on the terms

 

[Sols]

Before you base your decision on finding the cheapest jurisdiction, consider the pros and cons of actually operating an EMI. You need to find partner banks and the worse your license jurisdiction, the harder it's going to be.

An EMI that can't actually access the global banking system is pretty useless.

 

[Gediminas]

For little EMI with your budget you might get a white label solution from some EMI's I suppose.

 

[Sols]

For little EMI with your budget you might get a white label solution from some EMI's I suppose.

Like your buddies at Pervesk?

 

[Gediminas]

Like your buddies at Pervesk?

Yes, Pervesk would be one of the options, but I suppose you could find something cheaper as well. And they are not my buddies.

 

[JohnSeed]

You want to have a look here before you are going to use Pervert What's your experience with pervesk ?

 

[GlobalConsult]

Vanuatu is about 40K $ to be paid to Vanuatu government. I'm looking for a cheaper solution

What to do with a cheap license if you can't find any EU correspondent acounts?
If it were that simple and cheap, everyone would do it and not spend 350k+ for an EU license, whereby at least 2 million to operate.

 

[Gediminas]

What to do with a cheap license if you can't find any EU correspondent acounts?
If it were that simple and cheap, everyone would do it and not spend 350k+ for an EU license, whereby at least 2 million to operate.

350k would be a minimum capital requirement for the EU license, but if you want to start your operations, you have to have at least 1m. You will also need people, software and loads of other stuff. The cost of the license will depend on your lawyers. It's not that easy to get an EU license as it was a couple of years back.

 

[GlobalConsult]

350k would be a minimum capital requirement for the EU license, but if you want to start your operations, you have to have at least 1m. You will also need people, software and loads of other stuff. The cost of the license will depend on your lawyers. It's not that easy to get an EU license as it was a couple of years back.

As you can see, I even wrote "...at least 2 million to operate".

I know that, because a business partner has founded an EMI and I know how time and money intensive this project is.

 

[JohnLocke]

I wonder if you have tried to get in touch with a law firm or an account anywhere in Malta, Switzerland or Lithuania to get clarification about requirements and all the other legal issues?

 

[Sols]

Switzerland doesn't really have any sensible EMI legislation. They have begun work on generic fintech licenses, a quasi-banking deposit-taking license, and there are a couple of SROs, but nothing quite like the EU/EEA PSD2 EMI regulations.

 

[Gediminas]

I wonder if you have tried to get in touch with a law firm or an account anywhere in Malta, Switzerland or Lithuania to get clarification about requirements and all the other legal issues?

I have good knowledge about the whole setup of Lithuanian EMI, in case you need some answers - I am open to the discussion.

 

[Btraveler]

Also interested in this setup and prices. Can anyone give more light?

 

[Sols]

For an EU EMI license, you need a minimum of 350,000 EUR in paid up capital. In reality, you will need at least 2 million EUR to cover all costs.

From experience, the whole process takes from three months to 12 months depending on how well prepared you are.

Lithuania is no longer an easy option. Bank of Lithuania is overworked and understaffed, and some of their licensees are being scrutinized. Several key positions are vacant. Do a careful jurisdiction assessment before picking Lithuania just because it's been popular in the past. It might be a good fit but in many cases, other EU jurisdictions are more suitable.

Outside of EU, it's less streamlined but doable in Hong Kong, US, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. I would avoid the likes of Vanuatu because partner banks can be nearly impossible to find.

 

[JohnLocke]

Switzerland doesn't really have any sensible EMI legislation. They have begun work on generic fintech licenses, a quasi-banking deposit-taking license, and there are a couple of SROs, but nothing quite like the EU/EEA PSD2 EMI regulations.

But still there are a lot of Fintech / EMI's located in Switzerland and specially Crypto related companies. I assume that's because it is possible to establish something serious in Switzerland if you have the money?

 

[Gediminas]

Several key positions are vacant.

Could you describe what did you mean by saying that?

 

[Sols]

But still there are a lot of Fintech / EMI's located in Switzerland and specially Crypto related companies. I assume that's because it is possible to establish something serious in Switzerland if you have the money?

The root cause is that Switzerland isn't an EU or even EEA member, and as such hasn't adopted PSD2 or any of its predecessors and related regulations. This means that Swiss financial services aren't on equal footing with EU/EEA, which is where EMIs originate from. Switzerland is ahead of EU in licensing and controlling crypto but it suffers from lack of PSD2. I think they want their new, relaxed deposit-taking regulation to eventually become EMI-style regulation but they don't yet offer any clear advantage over just going into EU and setting up a PSD2 EMI.

Can you think of any specific Swiss EMIs?

Could you describe what did you mean by saying that?

One or two director positions have been vacant since 2019 (or only recently filled), affecting policy making and supervision services. Day to day operations have been largely unaffected but the queue of new applicants has grown huge while awaiting certainty on new policies. Last I met with BOL, they had a bit over 200 applicants in queue and didn't know what to do with half of them. Ended up going with a different jurisdiction.