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Conditions for issuing a permit for the National Payment Institution. Part 2.

 The authorization procedure for the provision of payment services ends with an administrative decision about permit or refusing the provision of services. Permit to provide payment services as a national institution payment can be issued to the company:

  1. having initial capital at least in the amount of the Polish currency equivalent (determined using the average exchange rate announced by the National Bank of Poland, applicable on the day of issuing the permit):
  1. EUR 125,000 - if the applicant intends to provide all or some of the payment services,
  2. EUR 50,000 - if the applicant intends to provide only the payment service referred to in Art. 3 the Payment Services Act,
  3. EUR 20,000 - if the applicant intends to provide only the money transfer payment service;

however, the funds to cover the initial capital of the payment institution may not come from:

  • a credit or a loan,
  • illegal sources;

       2. having financial resources allocated to own funds in the amount which may not be lower than:

  1. the minimum value of the initial capital indicated in point above or
  2. the amount calculated on the basis of the Regulation of the Minister of Finance on the method of calculating the amount referred to in art. 76 of the Payment Services Act,

However, the share of non-cash funds to cover the national payment institution's own funds may not exceed 20%, and in the event that the payment institution grants payment loans, the general own funds requirement is increased by 5% of the total value of loans granted in the last financial year.

The national payment institution is obliged to have at all times own funds adapted to the activity and type of payment services;

        3. ensuring the stable management of the activities covered by the issued permit and the fulfilling the obligations related to counteracting money laundering and terrorist financing, by having a risk management and internal control system appropriate to the type of payment services provided, including:

  1. organizational solutions:
  1. organizational structure and decision-making procedures covering the full range of business activities,
  2. the rules and procedures for fulfilling the obligations of obligated institutions within the meaning of Art. 2 point 1 of the Act on counteracting money laundering and terrorist financing;

       b. risk management:

  1. the principles of risk assessment, in particular the risk of loss of liquidity in the case of granting a loan referred to in Art. 74 sec. 3 the Payment Services Act, or in the case of conducting other business activity in addition to providing payment services,
  2. risk identification and risk communication procedures and risk mitigation procedures;

       c. internal control, including:

  1. internal audit,
  2. examination of the compliance of the conducted activity with the Act, regulations on counteracting money laundering and terrorist financing as well as internal regulations;

       d. description:

  1. rules for dealing with funds received from users for the execution of payment transactions in accordance with Art. 78, the Payment Services Act,
  2. user complaint handling procedures,
  3. internal communication system.

       4. having organizational solutions to protect users' funds in accordance with art. 78, the Payment Services Act.

The expiry of the permit.

The permit to operate as a national payment institution shall expire if the national payment institution:

  1. has not commenced operations in the field of payment services within 12 months from the date of issue of this authorization. The day of commencement of activities in the field of payment services shall be the date of execution of the first payment transaction (such condition is not met by test transactions);
  2. does not conduct (any) activity in the field of payment services for a period longer than 6 consecutive months (failure to perform some of the payment services covered by the permit does not result in the expiry of the permit).

The FSA issues an administrative decision stating the expiry of the permit, which is made public within 7 days from the date of its issuance, and after its validation, the national payment institution is removed from the register.