The Lithuanian subsidiary of London-based cross-border payments facilitator Earthport (AIM: EPO) – Earthport Payment Services UAB – has been granted a Payment Institution license by the Bank of Lithuania.
The license allows Earthport to continue providing payment services across the European Union. Having been granted the PI license by the Bank of Lithuania, Earthport can also benefit from having direct access to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) via the Bank’s proprietary CENTROlink payment system.
Rosie Faulkner, General Manager at Earthport Lithuania stated “We are really excited to grow in Lithuania; we chose it because it provides a great fit for Earthport due to the country’s stance on the growth of its fintech ecosystem. The grant of this license is the first step to allow us to take advantage of the opportunities available to us in a progressive jurisdiction.”
Earthport comes to Lithuania at a time when the country is steadily becoming one of the primary hubs for fintech in Europe. In 2018, the number of companies present rose from 117 to 170, and there are now around 2,600 specialists employed in the industry. As of February of 2019, the Bank of Lithuania had issued 3 Specialised Banking Licences (SPBs), 33 Payment Institution licences (PIs) and 47 Electronic Money Institution licences (EMIs).
“In Lithuania, most of the people probably have not heard of Earthport, whereas on the global fintech arena this is a player in the same league as the recently arrived Revolut and Google Payment. The arrival of this company, in which both Visa and Mastercard have expressed interest, shows that the Lithuanian fintech ecosystem is not just growing, but can already claim to be a hub of choice for global giants,” states Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Minister of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania.
Earthport, a public company traded on the London Stock Exchange has over 200 employees worldwide and is headquartered in London with regional offices in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Singapore, and now Lithuania. In October 2018, it was recognised as one of the Fintech Power 50 businesses.
“By attracting the best of the fintech industry, our cluster becomes better with each and every new player. Earthport – a company on the forefront of making cross-border seamless for the customer – is definitely one of the strongest additions to our ecosystem this year,” Mantas Katinas, Managing Director of Invest Lithuania believes.
Earthport’s global payments network powers transactions for some of the world’s largest financial institutions, ecommerce companies, money transfer organisations and payment aggregators. The company provides clients with access to the world’s largest independent cross-border payments network, maintaining local banking partnerships to help businesses settle payments directly via local clearing in 88 countries.
