LITHUANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Donatas Šliora and Marius Matiukas, ADON legal
thiness, conclusion of a funding agreement and even creation of a security instrument (eg, mort - gage or pledge). Various IT solutions are used to ensure regulatory compliance and risk manage - ment, including remote identification and quali - fied electronic signature. 4.3 Sources of Funds for Fiat Currency Loans Despite the emerging importance of peer-to- peer lending and crowdfunding, the main source of funds remains traditional credit institutions funded by deposits and group companies. An additional trend of borrowing by issuing bonds has emerged; however, recent defaults and increased yields could disincentivise further development of this sector. 4.4 Syndication of Fiat Currency Loans Syndication is typically used for loans exceed - ing the risk appetite of a specific bank or due to regulatory considerations such as the impact on capital adequacy requirements. Both syndica - tions within the lender’s group and among lend - ers from different groups are common practices. Typically, lending by a few lenders of the same group involves cross-border provision of servic - es. In addition to a more complicated negotia - tion process, some lenders are dissuaded from participating in loan syndications due to compe - tition law concerns.
ment rails, such as licensing, non-discriminatory access and operational resilience. 5.2 Regulation of Cross-Border Payments and Remittances As Lithuania is a member of the Single Euro Pay - ments Area (SEPA), customers can make cash - less euro payments – via credit transfer and direct debit – to anywhere in the EU (as well as to a number of non-EU countries) in a fast, safe and efficient way, just like national payments. The same regulatory framework is applicable for payments within Lithuania, namely the Law on Payment implementing PSD2 as well as specific cross-border EU Regulations (ie, the EU’s Regu - lation on cross-border payments in the Union). Regulations are focused on elimination of cross- border barriers within the European Economic Area (EEA) as well as enhanced consumer pro - tection. 6. Marketplaces, Exchanges and Trading Platforms 6.1 Permissible Trading Platforms The Law on Markets in Financial Instruments implementing MiFID II provides for three types of permissible trading platforms for trade in finan - cial instruments: • regulated markets; • multilateral trading facilities (MTFs); and • organised trading facilities (OTFs). A regulated market is a multilateral system operated and/or managed by a licensed market operator, which brings together or facilitates the bringing together of multiple third-party buying and selling interests in financial instruments –
5. Payment Processors 5.1 Payment Processors’ Use of Payment Rails
Payment service providers may use existing pay - ment infrastructures – including correspondent banking, card schemes, SEPA, SWIFT – and may also implement new ones. However, additional requirements may be applicable to new pay -
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