Global: Payhawk Secures Electronic Money Institution License in the UK

Payhawk, the global spend management solution, has achieved a significant milestone by obtaining a licensed Electronic Money Institution (EMI) status in the United Kingdom.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) granted this license following an extensive due diligence process examining Payhawk’s compliance, financial, and operational procedures. With the new UK EMI license, Payhawk is now empowered to directly issue electronic money, facilitate digital payments, and offer card issuance and payment solutions to both new and existing customers in the UK.

In addition to the EMI license in the UK, Payhawk already holds an EMI license covering the European Economic Area (EEA). The company is a principal member of Visa Europe, accredited by ICAEW’s Technology Accreditation program, and maintains PCI DSS Level 1, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 certifications.

Hristo Borisov, CEO and Co-founder of Payhawk, expressed enthusiasm about this achievement, stating, “We are thrilled to achieve another important milestone in our journey to make managing business payments easy – for everyone. Our company’s strong product DNA allows us to quickly launch new, high-quality features for our customers, and the new UK license unlocks new possibilities for us.”

By gaining more control over the payment process stack, Payhawk aims to optimize infrastructure, address client needs, and accelerate development velocity and innovation. Borisov emphasized that this is a significant step towards becoming the preferred global spend management company by combining cutting-edge software with regulated payment services.

Over the past few months, Payhawk has strengthened its leadership team by adding executives with extensive experience in leading regulated financial institutions. Gareth Walsh, formerly with SumUp, joined as Group Chief Compliance Officer, Maor Fishman came on board as General Counsel from Checkout.com, and Pedro Batista, now Chief Executive Officer of Payhawk Financial Services UK, oversees regulated activities in the UK and is responsible for Payhawk’s global Payment & Operations division.

Pedro Batista expressed pride in receiving the e-money license in the UK, stating, “We are extremely proud of receiving our e-money licence in the United Kingdom and receiving the trust of the FCA, which, in our view, has one of the highest benchmarks of regulators worldwide and traditionally sets the tone of financial regulation globally. This confirms our commitment to providing regulated financial services of the highest standard.”