Wallter UAB

[royalflush]

I could not find a thread for this company. I would like to share my experience.
https://www.wallter.comWallter UAB is authorised Electronic Money Institution by the Bank of Lithuania (LN: 30) under the Law on Electronic Money and Electronic Money Institutions 2011 for Issuance of electronic money.
They partner with IFX Payments under the hood.

I recently spoke with their sales team about opening a business account. The application fee was €1,000. I asked if they could review my business activity/sector before paying the application fee for "pre-approval". They agreed to review my business prior to paying the application fee to prevent an unnecessary application.

I provided details of the business activity and corporate structure/business owners. I received pre-approval so I paid the €1,000 application fee. I spent €1,000s on outside counsel, filling out 9 application forms and collating all the documents they required, 1-2 days work for me.

Later the compliance team rejected my application based on information I provided during pre-approval stage. They could have rejected my application given the information provided during pre-approval.

They refunded €500 of the application fee, but refused to refund the remaining €500. I nice quick profit for them and I am left with a bill for €1,000s.

I feel some EMIs are set up just to collect application fees without any expectation of opening an account.

Does anyone else have any experience with this EMI?

 

[Martin Everson]

Yup you guessed right and you‍ got suckered.

Big mistake. You could have submitted docs for "Pablo Escobar Colombian Farming Corp"⁠ and probably would have got pre-approval.

You mean are there any fools out there who decided⁣ to pay €1,000 to an obscure nothing EMI from Lithuania.

P.S Why on earth would⁢ you need to use an EMI charging €1,000 application fee unless your a criminal, have︀ a very high risk activity or from a high risk country.

 

[troubled soul]

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[Sols]

In many cases, the pre-approval you get isn't coming from the compliance department. It's often‌ just the business development person saying it seems OK, without really understanding what compliance bases‍ their decision on.

Time is money and it takes time to review an application. They⁠ didn't become one of the biggest EMIs in Lithuania just from collecting application fees. But⁤ they do reject around 1/2 to 3/4 of all applicants.

500 EUR is probably profitable⁣ for them in that it cost them less than 500 to review the application. But⁢ they make even more money by approving an application.

They are obscure but that's because they aren't marketing heavily.︁ I wouldn't say they are nothing, though. End of Q1 2021, they held about 66︂ million EUR in deposits (up from about 54 million end of 2020) which makes them︃ the 4th largest EMI in Lithuania. The top-3 being Paysera (286 million), ConnectPay (131 million),︄ and GlobalNetInt (68 million).

For context and using a brand name we see more here︅ on this forum, measured in deposits held, Wallter is more than four times bigger than︆ Pervesk (15 million, which includes Bankera) and has a higher own funds ratio than all︇ of the mentioned ones.

I don't mean this as an endorsement of anyone. Just interesting︈ figures.

Data available here: Performance indicators

 

[Martin Everson]

How many customers do they have out of interest or‍ are they just housing crypto money all belonging to Pradexx...lol?

Pradexx still uses them I see below.

https://mtr.mkm.ee/taotluse_tulemus/546557?backurl=@juriidiline_isik_show?id=222204
P.S I repeat only a criminal,︀ or person of high risk/high risk activity would pay 1,000 euro to open an account︁ with a Lithuania EMI.

 

[royalflush]

Unfortunately I fall into the high-risk category.

Interestingly they refused my application not due to high-risk activity. They rejected the application as they⁠ do not not accept C2B transactions. They don't make this information public on their website.⁤

 

[Martin Everson]

Unfortunate, but where‌ is your company and yourself based? There maybe other options.

Very odd.

 

[royalflush]

UK owners
UK LLP
Gambling-related investments (but not offering gambling services)‍
All transactions in USD between USA and UK

 

[Martin Everson]

Try Finductive, mifinity or emoney all support gambling activity as long as what you do does not require a license.‍

 

[a112114]

@Martin Everson have you worked with these guys?

 

[Martin Everson]

Not for‌ gambling activity.

 

[royalflush]

None of these‍ were able to offer me an account btw.

 

[Forester]

Did you try SEPAGA? (Electronic Money Institution | SEPAGA – Cyprus based EMI,‍ they claim to be gambling-friendly. No personal experience, just I know that they exists since⁠ 2015.)

 

[royalflush]

I have tried SEPAGA, they declined me in May. "we cannot provide our services as‌ the company does not meet our business strategy and risk appetite"

 

[Mayon Solutions]

Why don`t you try Genome, eVostro (bnk2) or Paxum Inc.?

 

[Forester]

eVostro is out, I am afraid, see https://www.evostro.com/support/help/what-industries-are-not-eligible...

 

[Martin Everson]

For gambling try MuchBetter. They specialize in banking for gaming industry only. They‍ are also based in Lithuania.

 

[royalflush]

They have their own ewallet‍ system, but you cannot make payments outside their ecosystem and they do not support USA.⁠

 

[Martin Everson]

I missed the part where‍ you said the below:

So basically forget it. Gamblign related, USD transaction and USA?...hell no will be⁠ 99.9% of EMI's. Don't waste your time.

 

[brunelloch]

This is very very accurate. I've been⁠ having this problem with majority of the EMIs - why to require the application processing⁤ fee upfront if you are confident enough that your compliance will let me through and⁣ open IBAN for me?