What is a payment fintech?
A fintech (financial technology) company provides a financial service through digital technology. In payments, most of these companies run on existing rails and licenses. What they mainly bring is a simpler experience (an app, real-time updates, personalization), without replacing the bank. France has nearly 1,000 of them, making it one of Europe’s most active ecosystems.
Payment fintechs usually fall into a few broad groups, based on the need they meet: paying friends, accepting payments as a merchant, controlling company spending, or spreading a purchase over time. Many are not banks. They operate as payment institutions (PIs) or e-money institutions (EMIs), license types that EU law created to open up the market.
The main categories, explained
QontoSUSumUp
Swile
Spendesk
Alma
YounitedSumeria (formerly Lydia)LELedgerSWSwanUnicorns and funding
A unicorn is a privately held startup valued at more than $1 billion. Several of France’s unicorns come from payments and finance: Qonto, Swile, Spendesk, Payfit, Younited, and Ledger, joined more recently by Pennylane (smart accounting software). After record years in 2021–2022, fintech funding fell sharply in 2023–2024 as interest rates rose.
The ACPR, the industry’s watchdog
The ACPR (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution), France’s banking supervisor, is the administrative authority that licenses and supervises financial firms in France, including payment and e-money institutions. Attached to the Banque de France (France’s central bank), it grants licenses, monitors firms’ financial soundness, and protects customers. No fintech can handle customer money without its authorization. For digital assets (crypto), the register and licensing fall to the AMF, France’s financial markets regulator, working with the ACPR, now under the EU’s MiCA framework.
| License type | What it allows | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Payment institution (PI) | Payment accounts, credit transfers and direct debits, merchant acquiring, money remittance | ACPR |
| E-money institution (EMI) | Issuing e-money (prepaid cards, wallets) on top of payment services | ACPR |
| PSP agent | Operating in the name and on behalf of a licensed institution, without its own license | ACPR (through the institution) |
| AISP / PISP (PSD2) | Aggregating account information or initiating payments for the customer | ACPR |
| Crypto-asset service provider (CASP, MiCA) | Custody, exchange, and order execution for crypto-assets | AMF + ACPR |
Elsewhere in the world. The same mechanism, elsewhere.
The regulatory license that lets a fintech handle customer funds, and the authority that grants it
In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority grants authorization under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. There are five statuses: authorised payment institution, small payment institution, registered account information service provider, authorised electronic money institution, and small electronic money institution.
https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/payment-services-regulations-e-money-regulations
In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore issues licenses under the Payment Services Act: the money-changing licence, the standard payment institution license, and the major payment institution license. It also separately designates the operators and settlement institutions of systemically important payment systems.
https://eservices.mas.gov.sg/fid
India has no general-purpose payment institution license. Under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the Reserve Bank of India issues a certificate of authorization for each system operated (prepaid payment instruments, payment aggregators, card networks, cross-border transfers, ATM networks).
https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=12043
The US has no equivalent federal license: a fintech that transmits funds must obtain a money transmitter license state by state. In New York, it falls under Article 13-B of the Banking Law (sections 640 to 652-b) and the Department of Financial Services, and it applies through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System.
https://www.dfs.ny.gov/apps_and_licensing/money_transmitters
The public register for checking that a payment provider is authorized
In the UK, the equivalent of REGAFI is the FCA’s Financial Services Register, where you can check whether a firm is authorized and under which status.
https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/payment-services-regulations-e-money-regulations
In Singapore, the MAS Financial Institutions Directory lists entities license by license (standard payment institution, major payment institution, money-changing licensee, designated payment system operator) and also covers banking, insurance, and capital markets.
https://eservices.mas.gov.sg/fid
In India, the Reserve Bank of India publishes the list of payment system operators holding a certificate of authorization, with each one’s head office address, the system it operates, and its authorization date. The list also includes authorizations that have been revoked or canceled, and operators that have ceased business.
https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=12043
Supervision of crypto-asset service providers
In the UK, a crypto-asset business must register with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 before it starts operating. This is an anti-money laundering registration, not a prudential authorization: the FCA states that it does not amount to an endorsement or approval of the firm. A full authorization regime under FSMA is set to replace it.
https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-crime/cryptoassets-aml-ctf-regime
In Dubai, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, which describes itself as the world’s first independent regulator dedicated to virtual assets, licenses and supervises the provision, use, and exchange of virtual assets under the Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023, through a two-stage licensing process.
https://www.vara.ae/en/
In India, virtual digital asset service providers do not need a central bank license. Instead, they must register as reporting entities with the Financial Intelligence Unit - India, an anti-money laundering requirement notified on March 7, 2023.
https://fiuindia.gov.in/