There is still a lot to be done in Georgia in the direction of open banking, - Vice President of the National Bank of Georgia Ekaterine Galdava stated this in the one-party parliament on March 27 and promised to work on the issue. According to Galdava, the open banking system was made decentralized, which she believes is the reason why it does not work perfectly.
Open banking involves the immediate exchange of information between various financial organizations, at the initiative of the user, between financial institutions. Work on the implementation of open banking in Georgia began in 2019. Initially, commercial banks were involved in the system, while the National Bank issued the relevant permit to non-banking institutions. At the moment, a total of 4 licenses were issued by the National Bank.
The first non-banking company to which the National Bank issued an open banking license is Keepz (LLC "Kipz.mi"). The company received the license on July 12 of last year. It is noteworthy that the founder of the company is the Georgian Dream MP Vako Turnava. Turnava asked the NBG representative a question on open banking at the committee and stated that "VISA and Mastercard have taken hundreds of millions of GEL in commissions out of the country". According to the public registry, 64% of the company is owned by Kipz International LLC, and 36% by Credo Bank JSC. The director is Giorgi Mariamidze.
The second license was issued to LLC Money Movers on November 21 of last year. According to the business registry, the director of the company is Kakhaber Sakanelashvili, and the owner of 100% of the shares is MM Invest LLC.
According to the NBG's open banking register, two licenses were issued this year, including one on February 28 to TPay LLC. The company's director is Giorgi Kutateladze. The 100% share is owned by TBC International Holdings Limited (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
The last license was issued on March 21 to the currency exchange office LLC "Verto". Its director is Sergo Lezhava, who holds 40%, while 20% is distributed among Davit Mchedlidze, Levan Kukava and Tamaz Zedginidze.
