E-Money Licence: Activities

Once a Malta Electronic Money Licence has been obtained from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), E-Money Institutions are not necessarily limited to only issuing electronic money payments, but are also entitled, subject to the prior consent of the MSFA, to perform any of the following activities:

• The provision of various payment services;
• The granting of credit related to said payment services (conditional on the fact that any such credit must not be granted out of the funds received in payment of electronic money and held in accordance with the necessary safeguarding requirements);
• The provision of operational services and other ancillary services in respect of the issuing of electronic money or to the provision of payment services referred to above;
• The operation of payment systems;
• Business activities other than the issuance of electronic money, provided these fall within the applicable law regulating such activities;

This inclusion of various other payment services within the E-Money legislative framework is a consequence of the fact that payment services are regulated by the same Act thereby avoiding any added complication of having to carry out two separate compliance procedures and pay double the amount of licence fees and expenses.

Once the licence has been obtained it also stands to reason that these secondary activities can then also be carried out in other EU/EEA States as a result of to the possibility of passporting the E-Money Licence.