Requirements for a Payment Service Provider (PSP) Licence

The  Central  Bank  of  Belize  (Central  Bank)  may  grant  a  license  to  an  applicant  to  provide  a  payment service  if  the  Central Bank is satisfied  that the below requirements are met. The Central Bank  maintains the right to request additional information if necessary. To complete the application, the following information pursuant to section 8 of the National Payment System Act, 2017 should be provided.

Steps to apply for a PSP licence

1. Complete PSP licence application form
2. Complete personal declaration form
3. Complete authorisation forms (if applicable)
4. Gather supporting documentation

PART I
Locally-Incorporated Companies

1.  Information  on  shareholders,  ultimate  beneficial  owners,  directors  and  principal  officers  of  the proposed payment service provider including: 

a.  Personal Declaration Form; and 

b.  Notarized copy of social security card or passport.

2.  Copy of Certificate of Incorporation.

3.  Copy of Memorandum and Articles of Association. 

4.  Copy of Annual Return.

5.  Audited annual reports for the prior two years, if applicable.

PART II

1.  Completed application form signed by the Chairman or President on behalf of the applicant payment service provider.

2.  Business plan, including but not limited to:

a.  Type of service(s) and targeted market;

b.  Intended business locations; and branches;

c.  Scope of payment service;

d. Proposed fee structure;

e.  Five year budget forecast, which shows that the applicant has the necessary systems, resources, and procedures to provide payment services, as well as, projected volume and value of monthly transactions;

f.  Management arrangements and internal control mechanisms, including:

i.  Administrative procedures; 

ii.  Risk Management procedures - describe provisions for handling digital risks including resiliency, cybersecurity, data privacy and delays or disruptions. Additionally, describe provisions to mitigate legal, reputational, liquidity, credit, 
custody, and investment risks; and 

iii.  Accounting procedures.  

g.  Procedures to comply with obligations in relation to anti-money laundering and terrorist 
financing;

h.  Information on proposed branches, agents and merchants;

i.  Measures to safeguard customer funds and settlement of disputes;

j.  Information Technology, security features, and system architecture.

3.  Organizational chart.

4.  Outsourcing arrangements, if applicable.

5.  Agents and merchants arrangements and agreements, if applicable.

6.  Project timeline indicating major milestones.

7.  Information on the proposed financial institution that will perform the functions of a settlement agent.

Part III

Subject to an approval from the Central  Bank,  before  Go-live,  describe and  demonstrate  the functions of the payment system and security features including, but not limited to the below:

1.  Technical Functions:

a.  Hosting environment and location for data storage for the production and disaster recovery (DR) sites.

b.  Network infrastructure and appropriate network diagrams indicating the major components and integrations.

c.  Security controls for the connectivity for the proposed hosting infrastructure and include endpoints, agents, merchants, and subscribers.

d.  Integration and data interchange with payment service providers’s core banking application.

e.  Application security controls (profiles, authentication, encryption etc.). 

f.  DR plan for business continuity.

2.  Operation Functions:

a.  Design of payment service and relationship with customer or service provider.

b.  Complete transaction workflow among customers, agents, merchants and payment service provider. 

c.  Customers cash in and cash out procedures.

d.  Reconciliation process for customers, agents, merchants, and payment service provider. 

e.  Clearing and settlement processes.

 

5. Email completed forms and supporting documentation 

Email completed application form, personal declaration form, and supporting documentation to [email protected]

A confirmation of notice will be sent via email within 24 hours of submitted notification. 

6. Pay appropriate fees

Non-Refundable Application Fee - $500.00

Initial Licence Fee - $5,000.00

Annual Licence Fee - $10,000.00

If you have any further questions, please contact the Licensing Unit, Supervision Department, of the Central Bank of Belize.