Why Registration Is Required for Payment Services
The Georgian law on payment systems and payment services states categorically that it is impermissible for payment services to be carried out by a person that is not a payment service provider registered by the National Bank of Georgia, a commercial bank, a microbank or a microfinance organisation, or a person acting within the framework of a separate exception provided by the law. This means that before launching a payment business you must determine the legal classification of your services and only then decide whether they require registration. Rendering payment services without registration is a violation of the law and may entail both administrative and criminal consequences, which is why the legal analysis of the business model is the first step for any payment project — boundary lines between technical support and genuine payment services are exactly where disputes with the regulator begin.
The Registration Procedure and the List of Providers
The registration of a payment service provider, and the cancellation of that registration, are carried out by the National Bank of Georgia under a procedure established by the bank itself. Upon registration the provider is granted the right to carry out a specific payment service or services — registration is not a general permission but covers a precisely defined circle of services. The National Bank publishes the list of registered providers together with the payment services each provider is permitted to render, and significant providers are indicated separately. For consumers and partners this list is a reliable source of public information: a company entered in the list genuinely holds the defined authorisation, while obtaining payment services from a person absent from the list carries risk.
Capital Requirements and the Acquisition of a Significant Share
The capital of a payment service provider must at no stage of its activity be less than the amount of supervisory capital determined and calculated under the procedure set by the National Bank. A separate rule concerns the acquisition of a significant share: a person planning to acquire a significant share in a provider must submit to the National Bank an application together with the information and documentation determined by a legal act of the bank. The bank takes its decision within 1 month from the submission, and the absence of a reply within that period automatically means consent to the transaction. If the information submitted is insufficient or inaccurate, the bank is entitled to request additional information directly from the potential acquirer or from the provider, and the running of the time limit is suspended until the additional materials are submitted.