The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has announced extending the pause on accepting new applications for Electronic Money Issuers – Non-Bank Financial Institutions (EMI-NBFI) until December 15, 2024.

This is detailed in Memorandum No. 2023-035 from the Office of the Deputy Governor, Payments and Currency Management Sector, the contents of which are released today in the BSP website.

Key Facts:

• The memorandum, filed under Resolution No. 1598 dated December 7, 2023, approved this extension.
• This is not a blanket suspension – The BSP has made provisions for exceptions, particularly for applications that introduce new business models, target unserved niches, or incorporate new technologies.
• The exceptions to the moratorium will be processed through a regulatory sandbox approach, initially introduced in Memorandum No. M-2021-064, allowing for a more controlled and secure environment for testing innovative financial services, the BSP said.

The BSP said those entities that meet the criteria for the exception may apply.

(Read more: What is EMI? List of Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) | Companies with EMI license in the Philippines)

The BSP also has a current moratorium on issuing new virtual asset service provider (VASP) licenses, except for those who are already a supervised institution of the central bank.

The E-Money Issuer (EMI) license allows for an operator of an application to convert cash in fiat to electronic peso.

As of July 25, 2023, there are 28 banks with EMI license and there are 43 non-bank financial instititions that have the license. Multiple VASPs, including Coins and PDAX also hold both the VASP and EMI licenses.

(Read: List of Firms With Both VASP and EMI Licenses in the Philippines)

This article is published on BitPinas: BSP Extends Pause on New E-Money License Applications

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