July 29, 2024

Procedure for licensing the activities of payment organizations in the Republic of Uzbekistan

Payment service providers

In Uzbekistan, the provision of payment services is regulated by the Law of RUz “On Payments and Payment Systems” No. 578 dated 01.11.2019. According to this law, providers of payment services are:

  1. Central Bank of RUz (regulator in this sphere);
  2. Тhe Bank;
  3. Payment organization;
  4. Payment agent;
  5. Payment subagent.

Payment agent shall mean a legal entity, which is not a bank, which has concluded an agency agreement with a bank or a payment organization for provision of payment services. In turn, a payment subagent shall mean a legal entity, which is not a bank, or an individual entrepreneur, which has concluded with a payment agent a subagency agreement for provision of payment services. It should also be noted that payment agent and subagent shall render payment services on behalf of a bank or payment organization and act on the basis of agency or subagency agreement, and accordingly their activities shall not be subject to licensing.

Licensing of activity of the payment organization

A payment organization is a legal entity, which is not a bank, which has the right to carry out payment services activities on the basis of a license. Below are the main stages of obtaining a license to carry out activities of a payment organization:

№ Steps Required actions Terms Documents Format of documents
1.         Establishment of a legal entity in Uzbekistan in the form of a joint stock company   –         all necessary corporate approvals, harmonizations and decisions are taken;

–         a package of constituent documents is prepared;

–         when establishing a legal entity, it is necessary to take into account the following requirements to the authorized capital (1.1) and the composition of participants of the legal entity (1.2).

 10-20 days 1) constituent documents;

2) powers of attorney;

3) decision of authorized bodies or persons, each of the founders.

 Originals of all documents
1.1.    Requirements to the authorized capital of the payment organization The minimum amount of the authorized capital of a payment organization should be 10 billion soums (approximately 794,000 USD at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of RUz as of 18.07.2024). And from July 1, 2025 the minimum amount of the authorized capital of payment organizations should be 20 billion sums (approximately 1 589 000 USD at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of RUz as of 18.07.2024).
1.2.    Requirements to founders of the payment organization       1.       Restrictions in respect of non-residents

 

The aggregate share of non-residents – legal entities and individuals – shall not exceed 50 (fifty) percent of the authorized capital of the payment organization in case the mentioned non-residents are not international financial institutions, foreign payment system operators, payment organizations and other credit organizations.

 

2.       Other restrictions

 

Also founders (shareholders) of the payment organization may not be:

–         individuals and legal entities for which there is no information on the sources of origin of monetary funds, directed for formation of the authorized capital of the payment organization;

–         natural persons and legal entities in respect of which there are prohibitions (restrictions) on possession of authorized capital or shares of the payment organization in accordance with the acts of legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan or acts of legislation of the foreign state;

–         public associations and religious organizations, public funds, non-governmental non-profit organizations, extra-budgetary funds, political parties, trade unions;

–         state bodies, except for cases stipulated by the legislation;

–         individuals who do not meet the requirements for business reputation set forth in the license requirements;

–         legal entities and individuals recognized as insolvent.
1.3.    Other license requirements                 In addition to the requirements mentioned in Clauses 1, 1.1 and 1.2, there are the following license requirements and conditions:

–         compliance of the heads of the executive body of the payment organization with the requirements established by the legislation of the RUz;

–         compliance of founders (shareholders), as well as heads of the executive body of the payment organization with the requirements to business reputation established by the legislation of RUz;

–         compliance of the payment organization with organizational, technical, security and business continuity requirements established by the legislation of the RUz;  compliance of founders (shareholders) and heads of the executive body of the payment organization with the requirements to business reputation established by the legislation of the RUz.
2.         Preparation and submission of documents for obtaining a license to the Central Bank of RUz       

 

 The applicant submits documents directly to the Central Bank of RUz (1) in writing or (2) electronically by e-mail. A fee (approximately USD 13.5) is charged for the application review. At the discretion of the applicant 1) application for issuance of license; In electronic or written form in Russian or Uzbek language. Documents and acts emanating from foreign countries must be legalized or apostilled with a notarized translation into Russian or Uzbek.
2) a business plan for the payment organization for the next two calendar years;
3) a document confirming the payment of the application fee by the Central Bank;
4) balance sheet and report on financial results of the applicant as of the last reporting date;
5) procedure of interaction of the payment organization with the payment system operator and participants of the payment system;
6) information on founders, including the amount of their shares in the authorized capital;
7) information on the head and members of the executive body;
8) information on risk management system;
9) information on security systems, mechanisms and control systems;
10) document on security policy;
11) description of measures ensuring compliance with the requirements of the legislation on combating money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
12) plan for ensuring continuous activity of the payment organization.
3.         Positive decision of the Central Bank on issuance of the license                The Central Bank shall review the documents and make a decision on issuance of the license. The license is issued for an unlimited period of time.                Within 30 days

 
4.         Notification of the applicant by the Central Bank The Central Bank shall send a notification of the decision to the applicant. no later than 3 working days
5.         Payment of the state fee for issuance of the license The Applicant shall pay the state fee for issuance of the license (approximately 134 USD) within the term specified in the Central Bank’s notification