FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Olli Kiuru, Mia Rintasalo and Essi Hietaoja, Waselius
Lender-Raised Capital Online lenders may also fund their fiat currency lending by borrowing funds from other lenders. By doing so, however, the online lender will be deemed to be a credit institution in accordance with Directive (EU) No 575/2013 and the ACI, and will therefore be required to comply with the provisions set forth therein. In order to engage in practices pertinent to credit institutions, the online lender will need to file for authorisation with the FIN-FSA prior to commencing said lend - ing activities. Other legal and regulatory implica - tions of lender-raised capital lending include that the online lender must ensure it has sufficient capital of its own, pursuant to Directive (EU) No 575/2013. Repayable Funds As is the case with lender-raised capital, and as stated in 4.1 Differences in the Business or Regulation of Fiat Currency Loans Provided to Different Entities , companies that finance their fiat currency lending activities via repayable funds are deemed to engage in credit institution operations and will thus fall within the scope of Directive (EU) No 575/2013 and the ACI. 4.4 Syndication of Fiat Currency Loans In contrast to legacy players engaging in the syndication of large fiat currency loans, small consumer credit loans provided by fintech enti - ties are generally not syndicated.
With regard to the provision of loans to busi - nesses, no creditworthiness assessment is required by law. Nevertheless, for obvious reasons, industry participants generally prefer to review the credit information of all borrow - ers even where doing so is not required under law. However, the positive credit register will be extended to private traders between late 2025 and early 2026. 4.3 Sources of Funds for Fiat Currency Loans Peer-to-Peer Online lenders may fund their fiat currency loans by facilitating P2P lending, which refers to the provision of loans between private individuals or companies without the involvement of a bank or another financial institution. In such a case, the online lender may facilitate P2P lending by, for instance, providing a platform for the parties involved in the P2P transaction; in other words, the borrower and the lender engage in an elec - tronic money transfer via an intermediary – in this case, the online lender. The legal and regulatory consequences depend on whether the online lender merely connects the P2P parties with its platform or whether it also administers the payments between the par - ties. Where online lenders facilitate credits to consumers that were granted by an entity other than a credit provider referred to in Chapter 7 or 7a of the CPA, their operations require reg - istration with the FIN-FSA as a P2P intermedi - ary. Administering the payments may, in turn, amount to money remittance, which, pursuant to the PSA, is a payment service and thereby renders the online lender a payment service pro - vider. In this case, the PIA will also apply, and the online lender will be required to seek authorisa - tion from the FIN-FSA.
5. Payment Processors 5.1 Payment Processors’ Use of Payment Rails
The provision of payment services is regulated under the PSA and the PIA, neither of which specifies the payment rails to be taken when providing payment services. Instead, they stipu -
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