What being an e-money provider means in Georgia
Issuing electronic money — topping up wallets and using them for payments — is not regulated in Georgia as a separate "EMI license". The entry gate is the Georgian Law on Payment Systems and Payment Services: issuing electronic money is a payment service, and providing it requires registration with the National Bank of Georgia as a payment service provider. This page examines what falls within the concept of payment services, which activities a registered provider may pursue, how registration proceeds, and what requirements apply to consumer funds.
The concept of payment services and the exceptions
Under point 1 of Article 13 of the law, payment services include, among others: debiting funds from the payer's account and related operations; crediting funds to the payee's account; executing a payment operation through a payment instrument — direct debit, credit transfer, payment card or other electronic means; issuing and/or acquiring payment instruments, including e-money instruments; money remittance; issuing electronic money and executing payment operations with it via mobile phone, the internet or another electronic means; payment initiation services; and account information services. Point 2 of the same article exempts a fairly broad list from the law's scope: cash payments without an intermediary; payments through a commercial intermediary; cash-in-transit services connected with transporting banknotes and coins; cash-to-cash exchange not carried out through accounts; operations between participants of a payment system; technical support where the transferred funds do not come into the provider's possession; additional payments by an electronic communications operator — where they concern digital content, charitable or ticket purchases, a single operation does not exceed GEL 50 and the monthly per-subscriber total does not exceed GEL 300; as well as securities operations, payments between companies within a group, cash-back at merchants, ATM withdrawals on behalf of card issuers, and payment by cheque. Separately there is the regime of limited-use instruments operating by agreement with the National Bank — these exceptions define where an activity needs no provider status.
Permitted activities for a registered provider
The corresponding norm of the law defines what is possible beyond payment services: closely related services — cash-in-transit services, currency exchange, confirmation of payment operations, data storage and processing; management of a payment system; lending under strict conditions — lending must not be the main activity, the loan is granted only for executing a payment operation, its term does not exceed 12 months, it is not granted from the consumer's funds, and the aggregate amount stays within the National Bank's norms; as well as placing one's own and social advertising, developing and supporting financial software, and — by agreement with the National Bank — implementing support systems and leasing property. At the same time, the provider has no right to attract deposits or other repayable funds from the general public — that is the boundary of banking activity. Separate prohibitions concern the gambling business: the provider may not establish relations with foreign gambling companies and must not allow payments to such companies with its card instruments; the possibility of operations identified by the relevant code must be restricted.
Registration with the National Bank
Article 15 of the law directly prohibits providing payment services by a person that is not a provider registered with the National Bank, a commercial bank, a microbank or a microfinance organization, or another person provided for by the law. Registration and its cancellation are carried out by the National Bank under its own procedure, and upon registration the provider is granted the right to provide a specific service or services — the status describes exactly what may be provided. The National Bank publishes the list of providers with an indication of the permitted services, where significant providers are marked separately. The provider's capital must at no stage of its activity be less than the supervisory capital determined under the National Bank's procedure. An acquirer of a significant share must submit an application and documentation to the National Bank; the decision is taken within 1 month of submission, and silence within that period means consent to the transaction — while a request for additional information suspends the period. Such is the regulatory logic of the door: first the status, then the activity.
Protecting consumer funds
Article 18 of the law protects the heart of the e-money business. The National Bank may set requirements toward consumer funds received in exchange for electronic money or for other services. These funds must be placed separately from the provider's own funds, in a nominal possession account; using them as security for the provider's obligations, for its own obligations, or for granting credit and overdrafts is prohibited. Consumer funds are not a deposit; electronic money is the provider's liability toward the consumer, and upon request the provider must exchange it for funds; accruing interest on electronic money is prohibited. The National Bank may require significant providers to submit a guarantee or an insurance policy. Legal persons, as a rule, participate in an e-money scheme only as payees, and the equivalent of the e-money received must be transferred to their bank accounts by the provider no later than 15 banking days. This block is precisely what distinguishes the e-money model from a bank deposit and makes it a focus of supervisory attention. The Legal.ge team assists in preparing provider status and complying with supervisory requirements.