French Monetary and Financial Code
In forceI. - The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution may issue a simplified payment institution authorisation when the total amount of payment transactions forecast does not exceed a ceiling set by decree.
Before providing payment services, the payment institutions referred to in the first paragraph must obtain authorisation, which is granted by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution after receiving the opinion of the Banque de France pursuant to the fourth paragraph of I of Article L. 141-4. To obtain this authorisation, an application must be submitted to the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, together with the information defined by order. Approval may only be granted to a legal entity.
In order to grant authorisation to a payment institution referred to in the first paragraph, the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution shall verify that the payment institution has, for its payment services business, arrangements capable of ensuring the security of the payment services provided and the protection of sensitive payment data.
These arrangements and procedures shall be proportionate to the nature and complexity of the payment services provided by the payment institution.
The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution shall also verify whether the persons declared to be in charge of the effective management of the payment institution are of good repute and have the skills and experience required for their position.
The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution also assesses the good repute of shareholders or partners who hold a qualifying holding.
The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution has a period of time set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat following receipt of the application to notify the applicant, after receiving the opinion of the Banque de France pursuant to the fourth paragraph of I of Article L. 141-4, that the requirements mentioned in this I have not been met. Failing this, the payment institution mentioned in the first paragraph is deemed to be duly authorised.
II. - The provisions of section 3 of this chapter, other than articles L. 522-17 and L. 522-18, do not apply to the institutions mentioned in the first paragraph. These establishments are not authorised to provide the services mentioned in 6°, 7° and 8° of II of article L. 314-1. They do not benefit from the rights provided for in I of article L. 522-13.
The institutions mentioned in the first paragraph are required to send the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution a periodic declaration certifying that they comply with the conditions of the limited authorisation. They must also send an annual audit report on the operation of the account referred to in 1° of I of Article L. 522-17 or, where applicable, on the adequacy of the insurance contract or comparable guarantee referred to in 2° of I of this article with the payment volumes executed by the institution.
Simplified authorisation ceases one month after the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution has established that the conditions set out in this article are no longer met.
Each year, the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution shall notify the European Commission of the total value of payment transactions carried out by the payment institutions referred to in this article.
A decree shall specify the conditions for application of this article, in particular the minimum capital that the institutions referred to in the first paragraph must have.
