Payment institutions are legal entities to which the Banco de España has granted an administrative authorisation to provide and execute one or more of the payment services provided for in Article 1(2) of Royal Decree Law 19/2018 of 23 November 2018 on payment services and other urgent measures in financial matters, such as:
- Cash deposits into a payment account,
- Cash withdrawals from a payment account,
- Execution of payment transactions through a payment account by means of credit transfers, direct debits or payment transactions by card or similar method (debit payment transactions),
- Execution of payment transactions when funds are covered by a credit line, credit transfers, direct debits or payment transactions by card or similar method (credit payment transactions),
- Issue of payment instruments or acquisition of payment transactions,
- Sending of money,
- Initiation of payments,
- Information on accounts.
The regulatory framework for payment institutions, which governs authorisation and registration requirements, is set out in Royal Decree-Law 19/2018 of 23 November 2018
on payment services and other urgent financial measures, Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services and Royal Decree 736/2019 of 20 December 2019 on the legal regime for payment services and payment institutions.
The Banco de España, following a report by the Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offences on matters within its competence, will be responsible for authorising the creation of payment institutions.
The application must be submitted to the Banco de España. The authorisation procedure, the documentation that must accompany the application and the deadline for a decision to be made can be found in the section on authorisation of payment institutions of the Banco de España Virtual Office .
Royal Decree-Law 19/2018 recognises other payment service providers that can provide payment services, such as credit institutions.
It also provides that certain payment service providers are subject only to the registration procedure. In this connection:
- Entities that only provide account information services ("aggregators") are natural or legal persons that must be registered in the Special Register of the Banco de España provided for in Article 13 of Royal Decree-Law 19/2018. The registration procedure and the documentation that must accompany the application can be found in the section on registration of account information service providers of the Banco de España Virtual Office.
- Payment service providers whose transactions have an average total payment value in the previous 12 months that does not exceed €3,000,000 per month will be exempt from the general authorisation regime for payment institutions, although they must register, after verification by the Banco de España of the requirements set out herein, in the Special Register referred to in Article 13 of Royal Decree-Law 19/2018. The registration procedure and the documentation that must accompany the application can be found in the section on registration of payment institutions with low turnover of the Banco de España Virtual Office .
Royal Decree-Law 19/2018 also identifies certain activities that are excluded from the scope of application of this regulation, including payment transactions from payer to payee that are made through a commercial agent acting on behalf of a third party and cash withdrawals at ATMs exclusively dedicated to this activity. Two other exclusions merit mention due to their relevance for registration purposes:
- The provision of services based on specific payment instruments which can only be used on a limited basis and which comply with certain conditions set out in Article 4 of the Royal Decree-Law. Pursuant to this Royal Decree-Law, when transactions carried out over the preceding 12 months under the limited network exclusion exceed a monthly average of €1 million, the payment service provider must notify the Banco de España of this situation annually for assessment and, if appropriate, authorisation or registration.
- The transactions of a provider of electronic communication networks or services related to purchases of digital content or other goods or services that meet certain conditions established in Article 4 of the Royal Decree-Law. In this case, there is also an obligation to notify the Banco de España annually for assessment and, if appropriate, authorisation or registration, and to submit a report from an independent external expert certifying that such activity complies with the conditions set out in Article 4 of the Royal Decree-Law.
The Banco de España must be notified of both issues using the forms established for this purpose, which can be found in the section on the registration of notifications of limited network and telecommunications operator exclusions in the Banco de España Virtual Office .
The notification procedure for the opening of branches and the free provision of services in Spain by payment institutions from other EU Member States is conditional on the Banco de España receiving a communication from the supervisory authority of the payment institution's home country. In the case of branches, upon receipt of the notification, the Banco de España will notify the payment institution and the latter, after having registered the branch in the Mercantile Register, will also proceed to register it in the Special Register of the Banco de España. Once the branch is registered in the Special Register of the Banco de España, it may commence its activities, although it must notify the Banco de España of the date on which these activities actually start. The free provision of services may commence as soon as the Banco de España receives notification from the supervisory authority of the country of origin.