In 2020, the number of electronic money institutions (EMIs) and payment institutions (PIs), which comprise a significant share of Lithuania’s FinTech sector, and their income continued to rise, whereas the amount of their payment transactions exceeded €50 billion.
“The growth of the electronic money institution and payment institution sector in 2020 was determined not only by higher importance of electronic payments due to the pandemic, but also by new participants: a part of the United Kingdom’s enterprises moved their operations to Lithuania due to Brexit. We expect growth this year as well.
During this dynamic sector’s supervision in 2021, we will focus on ensuring that electronic money and payment institutions establish appropriate priorities, especially concerning governance, internal control and compliance with anti-money laundering and other legislative requirements,” said Rūta Merkevičiūtė, Director of the Financial Services and Market Supervision Department of the Bank of Lithuania.
During this dynamic sector’s supervision in 2021, we will focus on ensuring that electronic money and payment institutions establish appropriate priorities, especially concerning governance, internal control and compliance with anti-money laundering and other legislative requirements,” said Rūta Merkevičiūtė, Director of the Financial Services and Market Supervision Department of the Bank of Lithuania.
According to the unaudited data of Q4 2020, the value of payment transactions performed by EMIs and PIs increased more than three times year on year and amounted to €51.1 billion.
In 2020, the institutions earned the income of €138.5 million from licensed activities, an increase of €72.4 million (2.1 times) compared to last year. Income of EMIs amounted to €114.5 million and increased 2.6 times over the year, while that of PIs grew moderately, increasing by €1.3 million over the year to €24 million.
At the end of 2020, the public list of electronic money institutions and payment institutions included 132 entities: 80 EMIs and 52 PIs (67 EMIs and 48 PIs at the end of 2019). The Bank of Lithuania is currently examining more than 40 applications for EMI and PI licenses.
At present, 23 EMIs and PIs operating in Lithuania have connections with the United Kingdom as the origin of their capital.
The financial results for 2020 show that 3 institutions did not comply with the own funds requirement (9 in Q1 2020, 3 in the first half of 2020 and 2 in 9 months of 2020), however, they have already taken actions to ensure that their own funds are adequate. In 2020, 82% of EMIs and PIs subject to the own funds requirement exceeded the own funds indicator (it cannot be lower than 1), as it was higher than 1.1 (78% in Q1 2020, 84% in the first half of 2020 and 86% in 9 months of 2020).
