Authorisation procedure of a PI or EMI or registration of an AISP

No persons established in Luxembourg may provide payment services or issue electronic money without holding a written authorisation as PI or EMI by the CSSF (Articles 6 and 24-2 of the PSL).

No persons established in Luxembourg, except authorised payment services providers within the meaning of Article 1, point (37) of the PSL, may provide account information services (Article 1, point (38a) of the PSL) without being registered with the CSSF (Article 48-1a of the PSL).

However, some payment activities are excluded from authorisation or registration requirements as per Article 3 of the PSL. Nevertheless, some of these exclusions are subject to notification to the CSSF. This is the case of the limited network exclusion of Article 3(k) of the Law which excludes the services based on specific payment instruments that can be used only in a limited way. This exclusion is clarified in the CSSF Circular 22/812 adopting the EBA Guidelines on limited network exclusion under Directive 2015/2366 (EBA/GL/2022/02). In case the conditions of this exclusion and of the related notification as per Article 37(1) are met, a notification shall be submitted to the CSSF using the dedicated form (cf. see below).

The initial contact generally starts with a meeting at the CSSF aiming to present the applicant and its project.

In order to ease the discussions, the entity is invited to provide the CSSF with precise information on the business model and the services that will be provided in Luxembourg. To that end, we request to be provided with a detailed description of the:

• Business plan containing an exact description of the activities;
• Diagrams of the fund and data transfers linked to these activities;
• Specific explanations concerning the business partners involved in the Company’s business model (e.g. agents, intermediaries or third parties), their role and their contractual relations with the company.

In case the applicant submits a formal application file to the CSSF for authorisation or registration, it must include all the documents and information required by using the relevant forms made available under the “documentation” section below.

The application file for authorisation or registration shall exclusively be provided to the CSSF in an electronic form via the MFT (Managed File Transfer) system of the CSSF, for which the required link will be provided to the applicant by the CSSF (upon request).

The CSSF then examines the application file for authorisation or registration, and communicates with the applicant via email, letter, conference calls or face to face meetings as appropriate.

After the authorisation has been granted or the registration has been completed, the authorised/registered entity is published in the national public register maintained by the CSSF and the electronic central register maintained by the European Banking Authority (EBA).