1. In the Republic of Cyprus the provision of payment services is regulated by the Provision and Use of Payment Services and Access to Payment Systems Law of 2018 ("Law"), which transposed into national law the provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Counsil of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market.
The Law has provisions regulating:
a) the transparency of conditions and requirements for payment services;
b) the respective rights and obligations of payment service users and payment service providers in relation to the provision of payment services as a regular occupation or business activity; and
c) the granting of authorisation, operation and supervision of payment institutions.
2. Where any person intends to provide from or from within the Republic of Cyprus (the “Republic”) any of the payment services listed in points 1 - 7 of Annex I of the Law, an authorisation is required by the Central Bank of Cyprus (the “CBC”) for the operation of a payment institution providing the intended services.
In order to obtain the authorisation, an application should be submitted to the CBC together with all the information referred to in subsection (3) of section 5 of the Law.
The CBC shall grant authorisation only if it is a legal person incorporated in the Republic where it is required to have its registered and head office and must carry out at least part of its payment service business.
3. For the operation of a payment institution providing account information services as referred to in point 8 of Annex I of the Law, the provisions of section 34 of the Law are applied. In such cases an application should be submitted to the CBC for registration as an account information service provider.
4. Regarding the content of the information which is required to be submitted to the CBC in order to obtain authorisation for the provision of the payment services listed in points 1-7 of Annex I of the Law or the registration as an account information service provider, applicants should refer to the guidelines EBA/GL/2017/09 issued by the European Banking Authority for that purpose, which the CBC has fully adopted.
5. Payment services may also be offered from or from within the Republic by authorised EU payment institutions pursuant to the right of establishment and freedom to provide services, in accordance with the provisions set out in the Law.
The relevant application forms are the following:
Application for authorisation as a payment institution - (PI)
Application by a legal person withing to hold a qualifying holding - (QHL)
Application by a natural person withing to hold a qualifying holding - (QHN)
Application for registration as an account information service provider - (AISP)
6. Payment institutions' register
The CBC maintains public register which provides the following:
a) the payment institutions to which authorisation was granted, the agents and branches acting on their behalf; as well as the EU member states in which they have passported their activities; and
b) the payment institutions that have been authorised by an EU competent authority and which have exercised their right of establishment or freedom to provide payment services from within the Republic.