EMI license in Lithuania: e-money institution (EMI) requirements (2026)

Yes. To provide electronic-money or payment services in Lithuania you need authorisation as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI), supervised by the Bank of Lithuania, under the EU E-Money Directive (2009/110/EC) and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

The Bank of Lithuania.

Application and supervisory fees that vary by country (often €5,000–€25,000), plus safeguarding and audit costs.

Typically roughly 3–12 months; the regulator has up to 3 months to decide once the application is complete.

Yes — an EMI authorisation passports across the whole EEA (all 27 EU states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein).

The Bank of Lithuania grants two main licence categories: Payment Institution (PI) and Electronic Money Institution (EMI, full or restricted). A full EMI requires minimum initial capital of €350,000; applications must be assessed within 3 months. Over 100 PIs have been authorised since 2016, making Lithuania the largest PI hub in the EU per capita. The entire process is conducted in English.

CENTROlink, operated by the Bank of Lithuania, provides direct SEPA access to all licensed PSPs across the EEA. Lithuania leads the euro area in instant payments, instant credit transfers represent 55% of all CENTROlink transactions, and Lithuanian providers account for 64% of euro-area interbank credit transfers. SEPA Request to Pay (SRTP) messaging was introduced in H2 2025.

PSD2 was transposed in Lithuania in 2018, mandating bank APIs for account information and payment initiation services; as of 2024 the register includes 24 bank APIs and 150+ registered TPPs. PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) reached provisional agreement on 27 November 2025; PSD3 requires national transposition within 18 months of entry into force, with full applicability targeted for Q2-Q3 2028.

From 17 January 2025, all Lithuanian EMIs and PIs fall within scope of the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA, Regulation (EU) 2022/2554), imposing mandatory ICT risk-management frameworks, major-incident reporting obligations, and third-party technology-provider oversight requirements.

BNPL products in Lithuania are governed by EU Directive 2023/2225 (CCD2), which explicitly brings deferred-payment and BNPL arrangements within the consumer credit licensing and disclosure framework; member states were required to transpose CCD2 by 20 November 2025. No standalone Lithuania-specific BNPL statute exists beyond CCD2 transposition.

Lithuania's EMI/PI sector generated €622 million in licensed-activity income in 2024 (up 25% year-on-year), processing €152 billion in transactions (up 33%). The Bank of Lithuania runs a Regulatory Sandbox and a 'Newcomer Programme' offering pre-application consultations in English, supporting 248 active fintech companies and nearly 8,000 sector professionals.