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Representation in the proceedings for the issuance of a license to provide payment services as a national payment institution (NPI)

The firm continues to work with the client, which is a small payment institution providing payment services: issuing credit cards and providing payment credit to consumers.

Currently, the firm is representing the client in the proceedings before Polish Supervisory Authority in the issuance of a license to provide payment services as a national payment institution (acting without such permission is punishable by a fine of over 1 million EUR). Obtaining such a permit would allow our client to increase the size of its payment services business and to provide services also across borders.

The client instructed us to:

• prepare the necessary documentation for the application for a permit to provide services as a national payment institution;
• carry out the necessary modifications to internal procedures;
• create new ones dedicated to the national payment institution.

Due to the complexity of the documentation work, the firm created project teams with the client in which the documentation work was carried out.

One of the teams, under the direction of attorney-at-law Michał Barwicki, prepared amendments to the financial plan and activity plan, demonstrating interdisciplinary knowledge and practice in the creation of such documents.

The client intends to outsource some of the processes related to the provision of payment services to other group companies. Therefore, as part of the project, we have also developed service contracts for the outsourcing of the application of security measures, the conduct of the clients’ KYC process, including remote onboarding and using of video-verification tools.

The firm, in cooperation with the client, has also developed internal documentation such as:

• the Internal Risk Management Procedure;
• Security Policy Business;
• Continuity Policy.

These documents, especially the Security Policy, considered also the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on the operational digital resilience of the financial sector and amending Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009, (EU) No 648/2012, (EU) No 600/2014, (EU) No 909/2014 and (EU) 2016/1011 (hereinafter “DORA”) imposed on a payment service providers.

At the same time as preparing the internal documentation, the firm was also drafting amendments to the agreement on the issuance of a credit card and the granting of payment credit, which the company had been using until then. The amendments to the agreement resulted from the entry into force of the Act amending the Payment Services Act as well as the position of the Financial Supervision Authority, which clarified the new rules for charging fees and commissions for granting payment credit and for the customer’s use of the credit card.