Fintech Compliance in Georgia: Which Statute Carries the Page
The Georgian carrier of fintech-product compliance is the Organic Law of Georgia on the National Bank: it determines which fintech model falls into which regime — payment system operator or payment service provider, credit or banking activity, microfinance organization, currency exchange point, or virtual asset service provider. European licensing frameworks are not Georgian law and serve only as comparative context — in Georgia these models are governed by the Georgian statute and the acts the National Bank issues on its basis.
The five articles behind this page refresh five fintech segments; in each case the segment is identified first, then the regime of registration, licensing or other requirements.
The National Bank’s Supervisory Perimeter and Powers
Under Article 48, the National Bank has full authority to supervise the activities of commercial banks, microbanks, banking groups, non-bank deposit institutions, microfinance organizations, independent registrars of securities, brokerage companies, the stock exchange, the central and specialized depositories, asset management companies, accountable enterprises, the pension fund, currency exchange points, investment funds, payment system operators, payment service providers, the credit information bureau, loan-granting subjects and virtual asset service providers.
The supervisory toolkit is broad: the National Bank may issue decrees and orders, give written instructions, impose additional requirements and restrictions, and apply supervisory measures or sanctions. It may refuse a person registration, a license, authorization or the acquisition of a significant share where this threatens the stability or sound functioning of the financial sector, or where the group, ownership or governance structure is insufficiently transparent. In the anti-money-laundering sphere, supervision is conducted on a risk-based approach.
Payment Services: Registration and Supervision
Under Article 48-2, the National Bank supervises payment system operators and payment service providers through registration and its cancellation, inspection, additional requirements, initial and ongoing capital rules, restrictions and sanctions. The procedures for registration and deregistration, the applicable sanctions, including the amount of monetary fines and the manner of their imposition, are defined by normative acts of the National Bank.
The National Bank also determines significant-system and significant-provider status and may assign a payment system the status of a systemically or especially important payment system, with criteria towards capital and assets. The fit-and-proper criteria for the administrators of an operator and a provider are likewise defined by a legal act.