Reference Case Number: FOI11504
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
You asked about information pertaining to electronic-money institutions (EMIs), authorized payments institutions (PIs) and voluntary application for imposition of requirements (VREQs).
FCA response:
1. The total amount of Section-166 Skilled Person Reviews that the FCA has carried out on (i) EMIs and (ii) PIs since 2018 to the present day, broken down by amount each year.
Year
| E-Money | PSD |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2 | 3 |
| 2020 | 9 | 2 |
| 2021 | 11 | 0 |
| 2022 | 5 | 1 |
| 2023 | 15 | 2 |
| 2024 | 3 | 4 |
| Total | 45 | 12 |
2. The identities of the EMIs and PIs that have been subject to Section-166 Skilled Person Reviews, broken down by date when the review commenced.
We hold the information you have asked for, but we are prohibited from disclosing it to you, as it constitutes ‘confidential information’ for the purposes of section 348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), and which the FCA has received in the discharge of its public functions. We are therefore prohibited from disclosing this information under section 44 of FOIA. For more information on why this exemption applies, please see Annex A.
3. The total amount of Own Initiative Requirements, or OIREQs, and Own Initiative Variation of Permissions, or OIVOPs, that the FCA has imposed on EMIs and PIs since 2020, broken down by year.
| 2020 | 1 |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | 3 |
| 2023 | 10 |
| 2024 | 2 |
4. The identities of the EMIs and PIs that have been subject to OIREQs and OIVOPs since 2020, broken down by date when the OIREQs and OIVOPs were imposed.
We are able to provide you with the names of those firms that have been subject to own-initiative action, as identified in response to question 3 above, and where a Supervisory Notice has been published. This includes the following firms (with the dates that the action was taken):
| Firm Name | Date |
|---|---|
| UAB Finolita Unio | 10/06/2021 |
| Probitas Fidelis | 16/12/2021 |
| Thestral Financial Services | 28/01/2022 |
| Lilium Markets Ltd | 03/10/2022 |
| Roark Holdings Ltd | 10/03/2023 |
| Monneo Ltd | 05/04/2023 |
| Samsky Pay Ltd | 29/06/2023 |
| EPayPro UK Limited | 04/01/2024 |
| Motmaen Limited | 15/05/2024 |
Notices for the above are published and are available on the FCA website.
Where a firm is issued with a Supervisory Notice and it takes effect, the FCA must publish such information about the matter to which the Notice relates as it considers appropriate, pursuant to section 391(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”). Under section 391(6) of FSMA, the FCA may not publish such information if publication would be unfair to the person with respect to whom the action was taken, would be prejudicial to the interests of consumers, or would be detrimental to the stability of the UK financial system. For those instances where the FCA has taken own-initiative action and which respond to question 3, but where the FCA has not published the Supervisory Notice relating to the action, the FCA will have considered the statutory provisions under section 391 of FSMA at the time of taking the action and decided not to publish the Notice or other information about the matter.
We are prohibited from disclosing the names of any other firms that may have been subject to OIREQs and OIVOPs where the notice has not been published, as it constitutes ‘confidential information’ for the purposes of section 348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). Please note that, as in this instance, FCA internally generated information may contain embedded ‘confidential information’. Therefore, we consider that the exemption under section 44 (Prohibitions of disclosure) of FOIA applies. For more information on why this exemption applies, please see Annex A.
5. I request the total amount of Voluntary Requirements (VREQs) that the FCA has obtained from (i) electronic money institutions and (ii) payments institutions. I request that this information is broken down by total amount by year since 2021.
| Firm Category | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-Money Institutions | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| Payments Institutions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
6. I request the identities of the authorised electronic money institutions and payments institutions that are party to these VREQs.
We are unable to disclose the names of any other firms who may have agreed to VREQs, but which have not agreed for these to be published on the Financial Service Register. This is because we are prohibited from disclosing it to you, as it constitutes ‘confidential information’ for the purposes of section 348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), and which the FCA has received in the discharge of its public functions. We are therefore prohibited from disclosing this information under section 44 of FOIA. For more information on why this exemption applies, please see Annex A.
7. The total amount of EMIs and PIs that have been subject to criminal investigations since 2018, broken down by year.
A total of 8 EMIs and PIs have been subject to criminal investigations by the FCA since 2018. The breakdown by year of the investigation being opened is as follows:
| 2018 | 1 |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2 |