Lietuvos bankas teikia rekomendacijas licencijų pareiškėjams
On 29 October 2020, the Bank of Lithuania published practical guidance for financial market newcomers preparing licence applications. The quotations and licensing statistics below relate to that announcement. Applicants must follow the legislation and licensing requirements currently applicable to their proposed activities.
“These recommendations are a kind of homework that needs to be done by new market players before applying for licenses to ensure better dialogue. All new arrivals can familiarize themselves with the most frequent errors and best practices collected in recent years,” said Ekaterina Govina, Director of the Supervisory Service of the Bank of Lithuania.
Rules of business planning, accounting requirements, governing body and central functional units; aspects to be taken into consideration in ensuring compliance with and compliance with the needs of the prevention of money-laundering; these and other specific recommendations are intended for those seeking a licence for an electronic money or payment institution, a bank, a specialized bank, a management company, a financial intermediation company or a financial adviser, or, under the framework applicable at the time, to be included in public lists of crowdfunding platform operators and other specified providers. The transitional period for the former national crowdfunding regime ended on 10 November 2023. Crowdfunding services within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 now require authorisation under that Regulation; inclusion in the former national list is insufficient. The Recommendations also include recommendations for those seeking to raise funds, for example, by issuing securities.
These recommendations reflect the experience of the Bank of Lithuania in the area of licensing and the implementation of the New Arrivals Programme, which has already involved 500 companies from 60 countries since 2016. This comprehensive consultation programme is intended for financial market participants interested in providing financial services in and from Lithuania.
Since the Bank of Lithuania uses a careful risk-based approach in assessing potential participants in the financial market, not all applicants for a license are granted a permit. Since 2018, the Bank of Lithuania has received more than 300 applications, but only 200 of them have been approved. The most significant number of licenses (about 50) were issued to electronic money institutions in three years.
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