In July, Bank of Lithuania granted an electronic money institution (EMI) license to TransferGo.
“We believe that this license will allow us to offer an even better product for international payments in the European Economic Area, because when you hold people’s money, you can offer them better prices. We will be able to provide bank accounts for private individuals and businesses if they need them. They will be part of our ecosystems product,” Daumantas Dvilinskas, CEO of TransferGo, told VŽ, a Lithuanian business daily.
TransferGo had sent their license application to Bank of Lithuania last year.
Through the company’s platform, users can send money to 47 countries. TransferGo works best for countries that face challenges posed by international migration. People often travel from poorer to more well-off countries and send some of the money they make there to relatives at home. According to Mr. Dvilinskas, the fastest growing European money remittance corridor is now Poland-Ukraine. It has already surpassed the highly active UK-Poland route.
The company claims to have 650,000 customers and has handled more than €1 billion in transfers. Every month there are around 30,000 new users connected to the platform.
The founders of TransferGo are Edvinas Šeršniovas, Justinas Lasevičius and Arnas Lukoševičius. Last year, the chairman of the company was Renier Lemmens, former head of PayPal, a leading online payment market in emerging markets.
Fintech Centre
Currently, one of the strategic directions of Bank of Lithuania is favorable regulation and supervision of the provision of financial services, as well as promotion of innovation in the financial sector.
Last year, 117 financial technology companies operated in Lithuania, the number grew by 35 companies in 2017.
Many of these companies in Lithuania have small teams. 66% of fintech companies in Lithuania have no more than 10 employees. 23% of the fintech companies employ no more than 50 people, and 11% of the companies – from 50 to 249 employees.
“The rapid increase in the number of foreign and domestic companies interested in obtaining an electronic money license indicates that we are on the right track,” said Marius Jurgilas, Member of the Board of Bank of Lithuania.
Source: Verslo žinios
