Bank of Lithuania announced on Tuesday the launch of its new regtech feature specifically for e-licensing. The feature reportedly makes submission of information necessary to obtain an operating license quicker, easier and less expensive.
“Currently the tool facilitates the process of applying for e-money and payment institution licenses and new enhancements for applications of other license types are under way. The solution should eventually become the main platform for information sharing and cooperation between the Bank of Lithuania and financial market participants.”
While sharing more details about the feature, Vytautas Valvonis, Director of the Supervision Service at the Bank of Lithuania, stated:
“Aiming to create an innovation-friendly, attractive and competitive environment for financial sector regulation, we were among the first in the EU to introduce a RegTech system for submitting applications for operating licenses. We hope that it will further accelerate the authorization process and ease the administrative burden for potential financial market participants.”
Valvonis also reported that given the fast expansion of the financial sector spurred by new market entrants, such as fintech businesses, the number of applications for licenses has increased markedly over the last few years. Seeking to speed up standard procedures and ensure efficient use of supervisory resources, at the same time maintaining the high level of transparency requirements, the Bank of Lithuania is actively implementing various electronic tools, including regtech solutions.
The Bank went on to reveal that the new tool has been created in line with the latest amendments to the rules for issuing licenses to electronic money and payment institutions as well as branches of foreign electronic money institutions.
“The majority of recent applications sent to the Bank of Lithuania were precisely for such licences. The new rules provide for a simpler and more convenient application procedure and lay down the requirements for the content and format of the accompanying documents. To the extent possible, they harmonised application requirements in terms of licences for branches of foreign (non-EU member state) electronic money institutions.”