The Electronic money institution (EMI) and payment institution (PI) sector in Lithuania continued to grow in the first quarter of 2022, the Bank of Lithuania informed. Income from licensed activities of EMIs and PIs, which form the backbone of the licensed Lithuanian FinTech sector, increased to just over €170 million Q1 2022, 80% more than in Q1 2021. The volume of payment transactions grew strongly in the first quarter of the year to €173.6 billion and was double the level of a year ago.
At the end of Q1 2022, 88 EMIs and 53 PIs have been registered and active, compared to 84 EMIs and 52 PIs in Q1 2021. The Bank of Lithuania is currently examining 25 applications for EMI and PI licenses. Eight sanctions were imposed on EMIs and PIs in Q 2022 including the license revocation of Trustcom Financial UAB (FinTelegram report here).
The financial results for Q1 2022 showed that three institutions did not meet the equity capital requirement.
“The development of the licensed FinTech sector continues to be quite rapid. We aim to ensure that institutions properly manage the risks they face as they expand their business, therefore we have a range of supervisory measures in place, and we inform the sector regularly and in a variety of forms about the areas that should be addressed” says Dovilė Arlauskaitė, Head of the Payments Market Supervision Division of the Bank of Lithuania.
