Licensing: MSB / EMI / PayFac
MSB, RPAA, EMI, and PayFac — from practitioners who have held the licenses themselves
Getting licensed to move money is the gate every payments business must pass through — and the requirements keep expanding. AcceptLocal assists companies worldwide through the full licensing journey, drawing on first-hand experience: we obtained and operated our own FINTRAC MSB registration as a BIN-sponsored money services business, and have guided recent client engagements through Canadian and European regimes end-to-end.
Getting licensed to move money is the gate every payments business must pass through — and the requirements keep expanding. AcceptLocal assists companies worldwide through the full licensing journey, drawing on first-hand experience: we obtained and operated our own FINTRAC MSB registration as a BIN-sponsored money services business, and have guided recent client engagements through Canadian and European regimes end-to-end.
Card networks — payment facilitator (PayFac) registration.
For platforms and software companies that want to onboard and monetize sub-merchants, we guide payment facilitator registration with Visa and Mastercard through an acquiring sponsor bank: selecting and negotiating the sponsor relationship, meeting PCI DSS obligations, and building the underwriting, sub-merchant onboarding, and risk-monitoring frameworks that the schemes and your acquirer will examine. Our experience working directly with Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX scheme rules — including principal-membership and sponsorship applications — dates to 2007.
One licensing path, seen whole.
Licensing is never just a form: it's the compliance program, the banking relationships, the safeguarding structure, and increasingly the technology (including AI-driven monitoring) that regulators examine behind it. Because AcceptLocal spans payments infrastructure, compliance, and AI governance, we prepare applications that hold together as an operating business — which is what regulators actually approve.
Contact us to discuss your licensing route — whether you're entering Canada, Europe, or both.
Licensing is never just a form: it's the compliance program, the banking relationships, the safeguarding structure, and increasingly the technology (including AI-driven monitoring) that regulators examine behind it. Because AcceptLocal spans payments infrastructure, compliance, and AI governance, we prepare applications that hold together as an operating business — which is what regulators actually approve.
Contact us to discuss your licensing route — whether you're entering Canada, Europe, or both.
Canada
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FINTRAC MSB registration.
Registration as a money services business with FINTRAC is the foundation for operating in Canada. We prepare the registration itself and the substance behind it: the risk-based AML/CTF compliance program, KYC and sanctions-screening procedures, compliance-officer structure, and the documentation FINTRAC expects to see — built to survive an examination, not just to file. |
Bank of Canada RPAA registration.
Under the Retail Payment Activities Act, payment service providers that perform payment functions for Canadian end users must register with the Bank of Canada and meet ongoing requirements for operational risk management and safeguarding of end-user funds. We assess whether your activities bring you within scope, prepare the registration application, and build the operational risk and incident-response framework and the funds-safeguarding arrangements that the regime requires. |
Europe
PI / EMI authorization
For companies issuing e-money or providing payment services in Europe, we support Electronic Money Institution (EMI) (and payment institution (PI)) authorization applications with national regulators — the business plan and program of operations, capital and safeguarding arrangements, governance and key-function documentation, and AML/CTF frameworks — shaped by direct experience preparing EMI applications for European companies.
For companies issuing e-money or providing payment services in Europe, we support Electronic Money Institution (EMI) (and payment institution (PI)) authorization applications with national regulators — the business plan and program of operations, capital and safeguarding arrangements, governance and key-function documentation, and AML/CTF frameworks — shaped by direct experience preparing EMI applications for European companies.
Named compliance officer — outsourced CAMLO / MLRO services.
A license application is only accepted — and kept — when backed by a qualified compliance officer. Every FINTRAC-registered MSB must appoint a Compliance Officer (CAMLO — Chief Anti-Money Laundering Officer), and European EMIs and payment institutions must designate a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO). For companies that don't yet have this expertise in-house, AcceptLocal provides it as a service: our founder, a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS, ACAMS), can serve as your registered CAMLO with FINTRAC in Canada or as MLRO for European entities — owning the compliance program, regulatory reporting (STRs/SARs, terrorist-property and large-transaction reporting), regulator liaison, and the annual compliance-effectiveness review, or acting in the role on an interim basis while you hire and train a permanent officer.
A license application is only accepted — and kept — when backed by a qualified compliance officer. Every FINTRAC-registered MSB must appoint a Compliance Officer (CAMLO — Chief Anti-Money Laundering Officer), and European EMIs and payment institutions must designate a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO). For companies that don't yet have this expertise in-house, AcceptLocal provides it as a service: our founder, a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS, ACAMS), can serve as your registered CAMLO with FINTRAC in Canada or as MLRO for European entities — owning the compliance program, regulatory reporting (STRs/SARs, terrorist-property and large-transaction reporting), regulator liaison, and the annual compliance-effectiveness review, or acting in the role on an interim basis while you hire and train a permanent officer.