Oh wow, never noticed that. They even use some of the same web assets for both of the companies.
Oh, thanks, I missed that. As I said, if the compliance is stricter after the sanctions it might be a good indicator they are at least trying to go the right way.
Budget at least a million for it.
depending the jurisdiction starting arround 100/150K till 1/3M. Normally you must to count arround the doble that the normal cost to setup one. But also depend the numbers of clients, turnover, amounts deposited, how many corresponsal banks it have, if sepa/swift, etc...
does this apply for the entire EU or for the a particular country?
It's the minimum requirement set out in the EU Directive and applies to all EU/EEA and UK. Some countries have even higher minimums.
There is actually sort of a way around it. In one conference I've heard that Globalnetint.com are offering some sort of whitelabel solution. The costs where quoted as 30000 to 50000 for the setup, and there is some profit share agreement (said they would give the details only if we sign an NDA), but supposedly they give you their core banking system, you can use their compliance team, etc. In that case you act as an EMI agent and can offer all the services they have, such as IBAN issuance and SEPA and SWIFT payments.
The question was about buying a license. Being an EMD (E-Money Distributor) is a bit different. You are reliant on the EMI for the underlying architecture, correspondent relationships, and they can impose ultimate say-so about clients you onboard and business you conduct. It depends on what you want to achieve. Might be a good solution in some cases.
