Baltic States – CIS, Banks, Financial Services, Fintech, Internet, Lithuania
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Thursday, 25.04.2024, 21:52
Lithuania mulls allowing third-country businesses open e-money accounts
Under the existing regulation, accounts for the
establishment of a business in Lithuania can only be opened with companies
having bank licenses.
"We are really now actively analyzing, as EU regulation
is also affecting our legislation, on whether there's a need to have a bank
account for the establishment of a company, or only an e-money account is
enough. Such a change, if we can do that, would increase market
competition," the vice minister told.
"E-money institutions are in some cases more flexible,
despite being subject to the same requirements, and they are meeting all those
legal requirements other ways. If a future client needs to be checked, they do
so using other ways banks don’t use," he added.
According to Lithuania's information and communication
technology industry association, Inforbalt, the existing regulations are
unfoundedly restricting activity of fintech companies, their expansion
possibilities and competition in the financial services market, and businesses
operating in Lithuania and the country's whole economy and competitiveness are
the first to suffer because of that.
Marius Parescius, vice president of e-money
institutions Paysera, says Lithuania has conditions for
Belarusian-capital companies to open accounts with Lithuanian IBAN numbers but
they need to register companies in Lithuania for that. In his words, it's even
much easier for employees of such companies to open personal accounts.
"Due to higher check costs and their focus on local
clients, banks are cautious about the opening of such accounts to companies
being established by foreigners in Lithuania. Therefore foreign businesses and
residents are opening deposit accounts, and later current accounts, with
fintech companies that create conditions for registering and undergoing all
checks remotely," he told .
Figures from Lithuania's state-agency Investuok Lietuvoje
(Invest Lithuania) show over 50 Belarusian IT companies are looking into
possibilities to move their businesses to Lithuania but cannot do that yet due
to legal obstacles.
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