Payment license in Georgia

Payment license in Georgia

The use of bank transfers in the calculation of cash to conduct business and meet the needs of modern man is no longer enough.

The most popular electronic payment systems and electronic money have a much greater advantage over banks, among which can be distinguished the following:

• Convenience and speed;
• low commission;
• wire-payments using SWIFT.

Georgia is the leader among the post-Soviet countries, more than 40 payment systems are registered here. Plus, the simplified system of registration of companies attracts more and more investments into the country.

You may be interested in obtaining a payment license in Hong Kong, Lithuania, Estonia, the UK or Malta.

Payment system license. The need of an office in Georgia

Legislation of Georgia regulates the sphere of electronic money, therefore, in order to provide services for working with electronic money, it is necessary to register in the National Bank, as well as obtain a license for payments in Georgia.

A Georgian payment license can be issued to those financial companies that have been registered on the territory of the state as an LLC or JSC. For such a procedure, both residents of the country and non-residents are suitable.

Despite the fact that the Georgian law does not require the presence of a physical office, and the National Bank has the right to issue permits to firms that have a legal address, in practice it is necessary to open a small office in Georgia, as this positively affects the issuance of a license and, in general, the ratio of the regulator to project. Of course, in this office there must always be at least 3 key employees.

The requirements for maintaining a payment company in Georgia are:

• delivery of accounting and tax reporting;
• annual audit trail;
• maintaining a physical office.

Types of payment licenses in Georgia

There are two main types of payment licenses in Georgia: Payment Service Provider and Financial company license. The latest license of Georgia can be compared with the EMI license.

To obtain this license, a number of conditions must be met:

• before the application is submitted, it is necessary to bring in the authorized capital (250 thousand lari or about 107 thousand dollars);
• prepare a package of documents that include: identification of owners, shareholders, as well as information on the directorate, security policy, commercial plan;
• documents confirming the creeminal record of company managers;
• open a bank account (the account can be opened in other jurisdictions, but priority is placed on the account with the Bank of Georgia).

The Georgian regulator has the right to set additional conditions for all of the above, individually.

The conditions for a license of the Payment Service Provider in Georgia are slightly different.

Procedure: obtaining a financial license

First of all, we conduct an oral analysis of the company’s activities, get acquainted with its business plan, its founders.

After that, we move to the choice of jurisdiction to obtain a financial license, which is most suitable for future work.

We help to understand the origin of funds, opening bank and correspondent accounts, connecting acquiring Visa/Mastercard, as well as providing other services in support of the payment system.

We will be happy to help you in creating a payment system.