Name
Global FinTech Guide
Country _ Name
Romania
SectionTitle
Payment services
Body
FinTechs belonging to this category offer alternative payment services which are supposed to provide a faster and cheaper way for national, European, and international payments for private and business customers by using new technologies.

For example, payment service providers hereby offer solutions to easily integrate several payment services in online shops.

Some FinTechs furthermore provide real cash register systems and online-reservation solutions for restaurants and shops providing their own payment services or making use of the payment services of FinTechs described above.

Introduction

Attitude of the country towards modern payment services

Modern payment services are typically adopted easily by the Romanian public, and we are not aware of any political pressures made with respect to the payment services market.

Legal affairs

Obligations and requirements to provide payment services or ancillary services described above

The primary legislation in Romania regarding payment services is Law no. 209/2019 on payment services, which transposes Directive (EU) no. 2015/2366 on payment services in the internal market (also called the “PSD 2”). Also, the National Bank of Romanian (the “NBR”) adopted NBR Regulation no. 4/2019 on payment institutions and account information service providers, which serves as secondary legislation. Payment services may only be provided in Romania by: (i) entities holding a payment services license granted by the National Bank of Romania; (ii) entities holding a payment services license granted by another Member State of the European Union, under the passporting rules; (iii) credit institutions; (iv) electronic currency issuers; (v) providers of giro postal services; (vi) account information service providers; (vi) the European Central Bank or the national banks, when not acting in their public authority capacity; and (vi) Member States, when not acting in their public authority capacity.

The minimum share capital of a payment services provider must be the RON equivalent of: (i) EUR 20,000; (ii) EUR 50,000 or (iii) EUR 125,000, depending on the categories of payment services to be performed.

There is no licensing fee and there are no costs directly imposed by the law, however, the payment institution must prove that it fulfills the regulatory and operational requirements provided by the laws and the regulations of the National Bank of Romania.

The financial reserves of the payment institution must always be at the highest level of the: (i) minimum share capital; or (ii) the own funds requirements computed in accordance with the regulation of the National Bank of Romania, based on the operational particularities of the payment institution. However, this provision does not apply to payment institutions which are only licensed as payment initiation service providers (“PISPs”) or both as PISPs and account information service providers (“AISPs”).

Additional comments regarding the legal situation for payment services or what FinTech’s must be aware of in this business area

N/A.

Economic conditions

Market size for payment services and biggest payment service providers

There is no official statistic regarding the revenues of the payment services market in Romania, however certain statistics provided by the National Bank of Romania and the European Central Bank may offer an overview of the Romanian payment services market. Please find below the most relevant numbers:

  • Number of active cards: 15,149,177 (as of Q3 2021);
  • Number of POSs (of resident payment service providers): 285,205 (as of Q3 2021);
  • The digital payments market reached a total transaction value of USD 7,640,000,000 (source:

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