Payabl. secures EMI licence in the UK

Payabl., one of the leading paytech companies in Europe, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence in the UK. The paytech company sees this as a significant move in its journey of rapid growth within the UK. At the same time, it is a step closer for the firm attaining its goal of being a major services partner for merchants globally.

Payabl. EMI licence

In a press release, the paytech firm indicated that it has been looking to launch in the UK as an EMI. Prior to this, it has been operating under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Temporary Permission Regime (TPR).

With the attained EMI licence, the company can now transfer its UK-based customers to its UK EMI. Indeed, it is confident that being an EMI will strengthen its regulatory framework thus better supporting UK merchants.

Payabl.’s UK CEO, Sean Forward stated, “Becoming an authorised EMI in the UK is a major achievement of payabl…Being an authorised EMI provides us with a robust regulatory framework that’ll allow us to support UK merchants and allowing them to thrive, as we have been doing for merchants across Europe”.

Notably, data released by FCA shows that only seven EMI licence applications were approved in Q1’23. Besides, the EMI applications’ approval rate declined substantially to 8% in the past year. In comparison, the approval rate was at 47% and 90% in 2021 and 2018 respectively. Overall, there are only a few companies that have gotten the EMI licence since Brexit.

Payabl.’s EMI licence will allow the firm to offer an array of services to merchants such as the acquisition of Mastercard, Visa, and American Express, linked payment cards, payment accounts, and point-of-sale (POS) systems.