Google Payment Lithuania UAB has been granted an electronic money institution license from the Bank of Lithuania, authorizing the technology company to issue and redeem electronic money as well as to provide payment services.By obtaining the license in a member state, Google has acquired an EU passport for its electronic money service. This will allow the subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. to issue electronic money and provide payment services smoothly in the entirety of the marketplaces within the European Economic Area, including Lithuania.
Marius Jurgilas, board member of the Bank of Lithuania, commented:
“The end of this year reflects our efforts and experience of the past few years in actively developing a FinTech-conducive ecosystem in Lithuania. Our regulatory environment and the benefits it offers have been acknowledged by both start ups and world-class FinTech companies.”
In the context of its strategic directions for 2017-2020, the country’s central bank is taking measures that are conducive to competition and innovation in the financial services field. The Lithuanian FinTech cluster now includes more than 100 licensed companies, the majority of which are engaged in activities related to payments, electronic money issuance as well as P2P lending and crowdfunding platforms.
With the registration code 304940902, Google’s electronic money service based in Vilnius is part of the company’s effort to develop payments products and support its customers, according to Google spokesman Adam Malczak.
Bank of Lithuania has recently called for attention in terms of risk management and cross-border cooperation among regulators in order to tackle emerging risks in the cyberspace. The country seeks to become a regional FinTech hub. For that to happen, authorities have heightened their attention to the cyber resilience of FinTech firms in order to ensure a supportive regulatory environment, while at the same time guaranteeing adequate security standards.
‘Lithuania was the first country in the euro area to conduct a cyber security exercise of the national banking system in 2017. This year, we will focus not only on testing cyber resilience of the largest financial institutions but also on that of new market participants – particularly FinTech companies,’ said Vitas Vasiliauskas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania and Member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.
