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EMI or PI: Which Payment Licence Should a Startup Choose
This article is about choosing between a payment institution (PI) licence and an electronic money institution (EMI) licence for a startup in the EU. It covers how they differ under the PSD2 and EMD2 directives, whether you can hold a client balance, how much capital is needed, how client money is protected and how to…
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Accepting Cryptocurrency Payments in Business: Contracts, Tax, AML
This article is about what a company needs to do to accept payment in cryptocurrency. It covers the two ways of accepting payment, contract terms with the customer and with the payment provider, tax in the EU, the UK and the US, and anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions requirements. Everything is based on primary sources:…
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Responsible Gambling and AML for iGaming Operators: Mandatory Procedures
An online gambling operator answers to the regulator on two fronts. The first is protection against money laundering, known as AML. The second is responsible gambling, which means protecting the players themselves. This article covers the procedures that are mandatory on each front in the EU, the UK, Malta, Curaçao and Estonia, where the two…
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Merchant Agreements: Clauses That Protect an Acquirer or PSP from Transaction Laundering
What Visa and Mastercard require in a merchant agreement and which extra clauses close the gap against transaction laundering: no payments for third parties, a register of sites, suspension of payouts, termination and recovery of fines.
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KYC and KYB for Payment Providers: Building a Risk-Based Customer Due Diligence Programme
Know your customer (KYC) and know your business (KYB) are the checks a payment company runs on its clients before and during the relationship. Banks, card schemes and supervisors judge you by how well you do them. From 10 July 2027 one EU regulation, the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), replaces the different national rules. This…
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Transaction Laundering and Miscoding: The Hidden Threats to Your Fintech Business
Two linked threats can cost a payment company its card scheme access: transaction laundering and miscoding. In the first, an illicit merchant processes payments through a legitimate merchant’s account. In the second, a wrong merchant category code hides what the merchant really does. Visa and Mastercard hold acquirers responsible for their merchants, and acquirers pass…