Fintech Consulting & Licensing Support inUK

Enterslice fintech license advisory and consultation is your ideal partner for fintech licensing solutions in the UK. We have a team of experts who can help you make your company part of the world's second-largest fintech ecosystem. We also offer post-license services and can help you set up your fintech operations to run in a full-fledged way. With the help of Enterslice, be a part of the world's largest fintech ecosystem and make your company achieve new heights. Our team of dynamic leaders will assist you in finding your place in the fast-paced fintech industry.

What is a fintech licensing?

In recent times, the traditional market players have been challenged by the industries arising out of combining finance with technology, popularly known as fintech. Today, a fintech business model is any technologically enabled financial innovation that might produce new business models, applications, processes, or products that can affect the financial market. Due to stringent consumer protection rules, these fintech business models can't be part of the public domain without obtaining authorisation from the regulatory authorities; this authorisation generally is in the form of licensing, which gives the right businesses to have innovative fintech models to introduce in the public domain.

Each nation has separate policies regarding fintech licensing, and an entity willing to obtain the exact needs to register them according to the local laws. These licensed fintech entities rely on electronic channels for their distribution, making cross-border interactions, outsourcing products accessible, and converting the global market into a unified marketplace.

Embrace Your Fintech Licensing Journey with Enterslice Through

Demeanor and Perspective

Enterslice solving your problems reasonably and effectively.

Contemporary ideas

Enterslice conforms to the modern approach and business tactics to aid your business for smooth license procurement.

Vision and Wisdom

Working towards achieving the same vision and the same goal is the philosophy Enterslice stands upon.

Enterslice Fintech Licensing Services Making Your Business

You are appealing

Making your business meet the customers' expectations, addressing unmet needs, and creating a value proposition for your customer base.

Constructive

It will be our responsibility to make your company technologically enabled by making your existing operating model sound enough to fill the gaps in existing technology.

Viable

We will make your business customer-centric with a customised business model as per your needs, which can increase revenue. With Enterslice, make your business efficient and improved.

Risk Bearer

fintech business circles around various risk-involving factors due to the interference of technology, external factors such as legal and compliance related, and decreasing the risk aversion of the companies, with the help of Enterslice, create a risk accessing and mitigating business model.

How Enterslice Can Make Your Fintech Licensing Journey Easy

The key ingredients that aid licensing are planning by the organisation when, according to them, the product and service are ready to enter the public domain and then preparations for fulfilling the mandates by which the product can legally be part of the public domain after planning and preparation applying for the license and obtaining its authorisation.

1. Legal Compliance Assistance for Licensing

Enterslice, with its legal experts, will help you register your firm as a limited company, a partnership firm, or an LLP. Before obtaining the license, the company must be a registered entity.

Our team will assist you in registering your business with the tax authorities and formulate employee contracts and equity agreements for you.

A firm in the UK needs to register itself with an information commissioner for data privacy purposes, and a proper methodology along with a framework for the compliances must be specified at the time of applying for a license; we will make this process easy and less complex for you while making you aware of each detail.

2. Fundraising and Investment Support

A Fintech startup must acquire funding from functioning investors; our team will connect you with the investors so that you can initiate your startup procedure with decent funding.

3. Tax Compliance Protocols Assistance

Taxation is the very basis that decides the longevity of any business. Enterslice has expertise in dealing with taxation-oriented protocols. We will help you understand the taxation dynamics of UK regulatory authorities.

4. Insurance-

For a firm to gain a license, it is a must criterion for them to have compulsory insurance-related provisions for the firm and its employees. The firm must prepare itself around these fundamentals before applying for a license. Enterslice, with its team of insurance professionals, will make your fintech insured.

5. HR & Personnel Management Assistance-

In the UK, the organisation must fulfil the minimum employee requirement before initiating the licensing procedure. This is where you can use the expertise of Enterslice, where we can recruit the most fertile tech-oriented brains for you.

Issues Faced By Fintech Industries In The UK

1. Brexit

Before Brexit, any UK-based industry with a business license in the UK was enabled to use the same license in the other EU member states. These were all due to the UK's passporting rights when it was part of the European Union, which is now in question. This situation has raised an issue of the relocation of the fintech industries, some of which are heavy money-generating companies to shift their business base from the UK to another European country.

2. Regulatory Challenges

Though the regulatory authority of the UK is considered the most fintech-friendly post-Brexit, the authorities need to reframe and remodel the regulations as there lies significant confusion amongst the fintech industries as to what laws and authorities to follow, which authority will govern them, leading to a late preparation and submission of license application ultimately delaying procurement of a license.

3. Insufficient Funds

For the last few years, the UK has been experiencing a slight drop in investments and funding for UK-based startups, which is a significant concern as a startup's entire structure depends upon the funding it generates. Fintech startups need solid and data-driven strategies so their license application doesn’t get laid back because of a lack of funding.

 Key Regulators for Licensing In the UK-

After Brexit, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) became the primary financial conduct regulator of the UK to deal with the UK's financial service institutions and financial markets. Any payment institution or electronic money institution needs to obtain a license from FCA to operate its fintech business in the UK. All the requirements of FCA are to be satisfied by these payments and electronic money institutions.

Critical Requirements for Obtaining the License

1. The headquarters of the business must be in the UK.
2. The industry's management team, i.e., the key members comprising the board of directors, members, chairman, etc., must reside in UK within their headquarters.
3. A systematic IT functioning unit from the very first day of business operations is a must for a company.
4. All the necessary papers bearing the policies and procedures that are critically important for complying with the regulatory conditions must be submitted when applying for a license.
5. All the fund requirements, financial resources, and management systems must be in place when applying for the license.
6. The company must have a risk assessment, legal compliance, security, and anti-money laundering teams before applying for a license.

Types of License under the UK Regulatory Framework

1. EMI License

Those firms, the central business concept of which runs around e-money, will operate as EMI licenses in the UK; therefore, a fintech firm will have to acquire an EMI License.

• For a business to procure an EMI license, it must possess the initial capital requirement of 350,000 euros.
• Must have an ongoing capital of 2% of the outstanding e-money issued by the business.

2. Payment Institution License-

FCA authorises any payment institution in the UK by providing them with the payment institution's license. There are different payment institution licenses, such as the money service business license, small payment institution license, payment initiating service provider license, and authorised payment institution license.

To obtain the payment institution license, the following key factors need to be fulfilled by the fintech industry-

• The initial capital requirement for establishing a payment institution is €20,000.
• The industry must establish a policy to safeguard the client's funds with the client's bank account or through an insurance policy.

Essential Criteria to Be Fulfilled By the EMI and PI Licensee

• It authorises the issue of prepaid cards, electronic wallets, and other forms of electronic money.
• In the UK, the licensing comes within the scope of a single legislation, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
• It must possess a segregated client bank account or an insurance policy to safeguard client funds.
• It must prove to the authorities that the employee management body of the organisation is of good repute and has relevant qualifications and experience.

The following necessary papers are required while applying for a license-

• Identification details of the company.
• A detailed list of the company's program of operations.
• The detailed financial forecast and the organisation's business plan will be sticking to.
• A detailed description of your business organisation.
• Evidence of initial capital meeting requirements and related necessary papers should be procured.
• Proof of the organisation's measures in case of threats and how the company will protect its clients' funds.
• The report shows what measures the company is taking to actively measure security threats and complaints related to security threats, as well as the measures and procedures they applied.
• Report stating the company's measures to monitor, file, and restrict access to sensitive payment information/data.
• Written report about the strategies that the company will put in place to maintain business continuity.
• Detailed report of the procedures maintained by the company against money laundering and finance terrorism. Programs must be created for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financial compliance.
• Time-to-time reports of empirical statistical data on performance, transactions, and fraud must be provided.
• Details in writing if any outsourcing arrangements are applicable within the industry.
• Details of the organisation's qualifying holding must be procured in writing.

Global Crypto Compliance 2024: Regulations in Every Country

Global Crypto Compliance 2024 provides a comprehensive overview of cryptocurrency regulations across the globe.

Download PDF

United Kingdom: A Global Fintech Hub

The UK is one of the world’s richest and finest fintech ecosystems. In 2020, the UK fintech sector was the top investment destination in Europe, with £3 billion in venture capital and was ranked second for its fintech landscape. The UK has a very progressive and pro-innovation approach to fintech, and the regulatory authorities encourage and welcome fintech startups to come and establish their business in the UK.

There are variable domains in which a fintech industry can establish its setups in the UK, such as payment technology (Playtech), wealth tech, credit and lending tech, digital banking, distributed ledger tech, and digital currencies.

The fintech market of the UK is divided into clusters, and London alone is home to around 90,000 financial and professional services companies. Regional clusters of Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Bristol, Belfast, and Cardiff are also rapidly growing fintech clusters that support deep talent pools and specialised industries. According to the UK government, with the contribution of a world-class university system, the UK has developed a large talent pool specialised in fintech industry dynamics; currently, around 76,500 people in the UK work with fintechs, increasing to 105,500 by 2030.

UK Fintech agreements

In recent years UK has entered into five fintech bridge agreements with Singapore, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Australia, which in themselves are the fintech giants of the world. This initiative of the UK government was to create opportunities rooting out of expansion and collaboration, the aim of which was to reduce the trade barriers existing in the international markets. The technology ecosystem of the UK enables it to run financial operations without any hindrance or complexity with the support of technologies such as big data, computer science, cyber security, data analytics, and AI, which is developing pacing fintech solutions.

Benefits of Choosing the UK As A Location for Your Fintech Business

1. Global Recognition

The UK is the world's fifth-largest economy. It is beneficial for a fintech industry to be part of a progressive country like the UK, where the regulatory authority FCA is considered a lenient authority that welcomes fintechs with a broad view and perspective.

2. Low Business Cost and Corporation Tax

The industry establishment cost and the taxes levied upon the corporations are low in UK, unlike other nations where the tax mandates are high, making the survival of a new organisation difficult; similar to the taxes, the overall cost of business, i.e. the infrastructure, in-house resources, etc. are low helping the organisation in its initial years of establishment.

3. R&D Support

In UK, there is a business tax relief of up to 230% on research and development projects, the work of fintech circles around technology and innovation, due to which each fintech needs a good research and development infrastructure; this tax rebate by the UK authorities is a pro fintech initiative.

4. Availability of Highly Skilled Workforce

UK is one of the wealthiest education hubs in the world, generating the world's highly skilled workforce, which is of great advantage to the fintech industries as they need highly skilled, technology and innovation-friendly workforce to operate their business.

5. Fintech Friendly Atmosphere

The primary big industry giants of the entire world have either established or are in the process of establishing their business in the UK, the reason being the growing investment sector and the reputation of UK financial services; the higher the entry of big players, the higher the market value of the industries, higher benefits and chances of obtaining funding and hassle-free establishment of business.

Enterslice Licensing Services

Our fintech licensing services include outlining and assisting all the necessary processes that are compulsory for China's fintech license procurement. Along with licensing, we can help you with taxation, budgeting, and financial marketing.

necessary paperation Assistance- Our fintech experts offer easy and hassle-free Paper works guidance with checklists and updated formats occasionally.

Compliance Support- establishing a cross-border fintech industry involves multiple compliances, which, when not appropriately followed, cause delays in the licensing process. Our legal team will help you in systematic compliance formulation along with time-to-time compliance support per the regulation changes.

Expert Guidance- We customise fintech strategies per your company's business model. To achieve the same, we assign a dedicated fintech expert who will provide expert guidance and support and help you make the right decisions for your company.

Major Innovation Hubs Aiding Fintech in UK-

1. FCA Innovation Hub-

In any fintech industry, the foundation of innovation and developing new products for them, the FCA innovation hub is the ideal place to set up a launch. This innovation hub has developed three ways to aid innovation: using a regulatory sandbox, a digital sandbox, and an innovation pathway. The criteria to be an approved entity for these sandboxes is by developing a product that is meant for UK market; the developed product must have novelty, the market must be in genuine need of such a product or service, and the industry must have the readiness to get their products and services tested in the innovation hub.

2. FCA Fintech Regulatory Sandbox-

If a non-licensed firm is interested in being part of the UK fintech industry and is ready to innovate and test its product and services in the UK market, it can do so by registering itself under the FCA fintech regulatory sandbox where it can test its products and services In a controlled environment; they will be guided on how to build products and services which are consumer friendly and aids consumer protection. These industries can test their products and services in a highly technology-driven environment.

3. Innovation Pathways Support

Innovation pathways support helps businesses innovate while being part of the UK service market. This pathway is an excellent opportunity for companies to be under FCA regulations. The benefits that the companies get include having an opportunity for one-to-one discussion with a case manager, the advantage of pre-licensing being available to the firms, and individual guidance being provided to the firms to make them compliant with the FCA requirements. Even after obtaining the license, the sandbox firms can have supervisory support.

4. Digital Sandbox-

The early-stage development firms are part of this digital sandbox; this was mainly designed during the pandemic to address the issues of firms and was then upgraded to support the testing and development of new products and services. The benefits to the firms part of the digital sandbox are that they get access to the financial data and the opportunity to test and train models, they are allowed to collaborate with a network of innovators, regulators, financial services firms, and investors, the opportunity to access, connect and test with several existing fintech industries.

Our commitment to you

Goal-based outcomes

At Enterslice, we value our clients' time and resources; therefore, we derive goal-based strategies to streamline our operations to achieve the same.

Consistency

We have a dedicated team of experts who know how to remain committed and objective and have the skills to settle a business.

Balanced approach

We aim to achieve the right balance for our clients' businesses, especially when it concerns the fintech industry.

Our success story

We have 10+ years of experience in the fintech domain along with licensing, company establishment, and other legal compliances; our journey is full of success stories that we achieved through these years by making the right decisions for a budding or an established fintech business in Australia.

Hassle-free Fintech license procurement with Enterslice Fintech licensing services

Fintech licensing services must be availed by every fintech entity, especially when establishing it in a foreign country because licensing rules vary worldwide. A potential and strategic fintech licensing plan ensures easy license procurement because, in most of the nation, rejection of the license results in delay and add-on controls and compliances.

With the help of our consultation and advisory, you can focus on building the core of your fintech business while we ensure the developing license compliance per the regulatory framework.

Why choose us

Vision & core values

We have faith in your trust, and we can do anything to keep your trust intact; we engage the community without staking our core values and vision.

Customer-centric services

We understand that the core of any business is its employees; our team of experts are polite and competitive and respond efficiently to the queries of each customer; our belief is to develop long-term and trustworthy relationships.

Convenient and consistent

We provide such an environment to our clients which is convenient and consistent for them; we work without friction and with the ties of trust and credibility.

Reputed & trustworthy

If you go by word of mouth, all our clients give positive feedback for our services, making us a reputed and trustworthy organisation.