Lithuania set the goal of becoming a FinTech center in the Nordic-Baltic region of Europe. For the purpose, the central bank of Lithuania, together with other state bodies, are creating a favorable environment for founding and running financial institutions, including ensuring the facilitated obtaining of an authorization for later operating on the banking market of the European Union, IPN reports.
In a discussion in Vilnius with a group of Moldovan journalists, Rūta Medaiskytė, head of the Newcomer project of the Bank of Lithuania, said the Bank aims to create a friendly environment with the assistance of innovations so as to offer the best conditions for the development of financial technologies and establish the most favorable environment for FinTech firms from the whole Nordic-Baltic region. Thus, the Bank will support companies that offer innovative financial products and business solutions, offering them consultancy and the possibility of testing the projects they propose. As a result of the testing and the examination of the implementation method and compliance criteria, the Bank of Lithuania offers a license to financial institutions in simplified conditions.
Rūta Medaiskytė noted that the process of obtaining the authorization is relatively simple and implies reduced costs. After the required documents are submitted, the Bank of Lithuania needs three months to take a decision as to the issuing of a license. In other countries of the EU, the process can take even 12 months and more. The access to the payment infrastructure of the Bank of Lithuania for companies from the non-banking sector that intend to provide payment services, avoiding thus an intermediary, is another opportunity.
Among other instruments applied by the Bank of Lithuania is the provision of the specialized bank license. Thus, to found a bank in Lithuania that would provide ordinary banking services, the companies must have an initial capital of €1 million, which is the minimum requirement in the Eurozone. The sum is five times lower than in the case of banks that provide the whole range of services, including investment ones.
Rūta Medaiskytė said the Bank plans to create a system within which the newcomer companies will be allowed to test their project through a “regulatory house” where they will benefit from surveillance and consultancy from the Bank of Lithuania. Under the testing regime, in a regulated environment, the companies will be able to offer consumers innovative financial products and solutions for testing businesses. The goal is to provide particular benefits to participants at the trial stage. Also, before launching a new business or product, the investors will be able to test if their activity is complaint with all the legislative requirements.
The development of a favorable regulatory and surveillance environment for FinTech and encouragement of innovations in the financial sector are one of the strategic lines of the Bank of Lithuania for 2017-2020.
