Payment institution licence (Erlaubnis zur Erbringung von Zahlungsdiensten nach § 10 ZAG) (Germany)

At a glance

What it lets you do

• Execution of payment transactions
• Money remittance
• Issuing payment instruments and acquiring payment transactions
• Payment initiation services
• Account information services

• Execution of payment transactions. Executing direct debits, card payments and credit transfers, including standing orders, from a payment account.
• Money remittance. Receiving funds from a payer solely to transfer them to a payee or another provider, without opening payment accounts.
• Issuing payment instruments and acquiring payment transactions. Issuing cards or other payment instruments to payers, and acquiring card and other payment transactions for merchants.
• Payment initiation services. Initiating a payment order at the user's request from an account held with another provider, as in open banking.
• Account information services. Providing consolidated online information on one or more payment accounts the user holds with other providers.

Where it is valid

Cost

How long it takes

Statutory: 3 months from receipt of complete application, maximum 12 months overall¹. Observed: not published. The statutory clock usually starts only when the regulator treats the application as complete, and pauses while it waits for answers to its questions.

Buying a company that already holds it

Prior notification with an objection period. Acquiring or increasing a qualifying holding reaching or crossing 10%, 20%, 30%, or 50% of capital or voting rights, or gaining control of a credit institution, payment institution, or investment firm, requires prior written notification to BaFin and the Deutsche Bundesbank. BaFin conducts an assessment of acquirer reliability, professional competence, financial soundness, and money laundering risks within 60 working days from receipt of a complete filing, interruptible once by up to 20 working days (or 30 working days if non-EEA) to request additional information, under Section 2c KWG, applied mutatis mutandis to payment and e-money institutions via Section 14 ZAG and to investment firms via Section 24 WpIG.⁷

Laws behind it

• Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services in the internal market: Directive (EU) 2015/2366