If your company wishes to provide payment services such as money transfer, payment processing and payment initiation in the European Union, you need to apply for a Payment Insitution license. There are 2 categories of PI licenses: the Authorized Payment Institution (API) license and the Registered or Small Payment Insitution (SPI) license. These licenses are issued by each nation’s respective regulator as governed by the Payment Services Directive Two (PSD2)

The license gives you the authority to provide following services:

  1. Services enabling cash to be placed on a payment account as well as all the operations required for operating a payment account.
  2. Services enabling cash withdrawals from a payment account as well as all the operations required for operating a payment account.
  3. Execution of payment transactions, including transfers of funds on a payment account with the user’s payment service provider or with another payment service provider: (a) execution of direct debits, including one-off direct debits;(b) execution of payment transactions through a payment card or a similar device;(c) execution of credit transfers, including standing orders.
  4. Execution of payment transactions where the funds are covered by a credit line for a payment service user: (a) execution of direct debits, including one-off direct debits; (b) execution of payment transactions through a payment card or a similar device; (c) execution of credit transfers, including standing orders.
  5. Issuing of payment instruments and/or acquiring of payment transactions.
  6. Money remittance.
  7. Payment initiation services.
  8. Account information services.

The European Banking Association (EBA) maintains a public register of all registered payment institutions as relayed to them by regulatory authorities . Get in touch with us for help acquiring a European Small Payment Institution license.

This page was last updated on June 7, 2023.