LITHUANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Donatas Šliora and Marius Matiukas, ADON legal
3.3 Issues Relating to Best Execution of Customer Trades Generally, the same requirements for best exe - cution are applicable for robo-advisers as for employees of investment service providers.
Different business models for robo-advisers may be required, depending on the specific nature of services and the asset classes involved. Typical robo-advisory services related to financial instru - ments include investment advice and portfolio management. Commonly, robo-advisers focus on exchange-traded funds (ETFs); however, they may also provide services involving digital assets such as security tokens. Lithuania fully aligns with the EU regulatory framework without serious national deviations. Some of the regulatory requirements applicable to robo-advisers depend on the classification of the asset: • if classified as a security token under MiFID II, standard financial instrument regulations apply; and • if classified as a crypto-asset, MiCA require - ments will be relevant. Following the entry into force of MiCA, provid - ing investment advice or portfolio management related to crypto-assets will require either a MiCA licence or authorisation as another regu - lated institution specified in MiCA (eg, a credit institution or investment firm). 3.2 Legacy Players’ Implementation of Solutions Introduced by Robo-Advisers There is a general trend by financial institutions towards automation of services and a transition to purely online services. Some market partici - pants offer robo-advisers as a separate invest - ment service (eg, SEB), while others automate internal processes.
4. Online Lenders 4.1 Differences in the Business or Regulation of Fiat Currency Loans Provided to Different Entities
Requirements may vary depending on the role of a financial institution (eg, whether lending of own funds or merely acting as an administrative intermediary between lenders and borrowers) and the type of borrower. National regulations transpose consumer pro - tection-oriented directives, namely the EU’s Consumer Credit Directive and the EU’s Mort - gage Credit Directive. Lending to consumers is not only in line with the EU Directives but also provides for many additional safeguards and requirements, including soft law instruments. Peer-to-peer lending also falls within the same framework of consumer credits and mortgage credits, and the obligation to ensure compliance is vested in peer-to-peer lending platform opera - tors. Regulations on lending to businesses and entre - preneurs are more liberal. Generally, lending to non-consumers is a non-licenced activity. How - ever, the activities of crowdfunding service pro -
viders require a separate licence. 4.2 Underwriting Processes
Irrespective of the recipients of the loan, the majority of, or all of, the underwriting process is completed remotely, and includes submission of a credit application, assessment of creditwor -
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