ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sergiu-Traian Vasilescu, Luca Dejan, Bogdan Rotaru and Ana-Maria Bută, VD Law Group
For example, Romania’s Electronic Payments Law may impose additional requirements or exemptions that are not found within EU law, especially concerning payment services and consumer protections. Similarly, the enforce - ment of AML and KYC regulations may be stricter at the national level, reflecting Romania’s commitment to compliance with international standards. Additionally, while the EU strives for harmonisa - tion, there may still be challenges for businesses operating cross-border, particularly in the crypto space, where some jurisdictions within the EU are more progressive in their treatment of digital assets than others. The traveller rule, which applies to financial transfers involving virtual assets, is another key area of compliance. It is aimed at enhancing transparency and compliance with AML and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) regulations. The rule is relevant for cross-border transfers of cryptocurrencies and must be adhered to by VASPs within the EU, including Romania. Non- compliance with the traveller rule and AML regu - lation may result in penalties or restrictions on operations. 2.3 Compensation Models Compensation Models and Disclosures in Romania’s Fintech Sector Permitted compensation models Fintech companies in Romania utilise diverse compensation models, shaped by EU directives and local regulations. Key models include the following. • Subscription fees: Charging recurring fees for premium services (eg, advanced analytics, exclusive features). Common in neo-banking and regtech platforms.
• Transaction fees: Per-transaction charges for payments, cross-border transfers, or cur - rency conversions. Widely used by PSPs and e-commerce platforms. • Freemium models: Offering basic services free of charge while monetising premium upgrades (eg, enhanced credit scoring tools in AI-driven platforms). • Interchange fees: Applied by payment pro - cessors in card-based transactions, governed by EU Interchange Fee Regulation (2015/751). • Interest-based revenue: Charging interest on loans or BNPL (Buy-Now-Pay-Later) prod - ucts, regulated under the BNR guidelines. • Commission-based models: Earnings from facilitating third-party services (eg, insurance, investment products), often seen in open banking platforms. • Performance-based fees: Common in invest - ment and DeFi platforms, where fees corre - late with returns or asset growth, subject to ASF (Financial Supervisory Authority) over - sight. • White-label partnerships: Licensing fintech infrastructure to third parties (eg, BaaS providers), with revenue sharing disclosed in Romanian law mandates transparency to pro - tect consumers and ensure fair competition. Key requirements include the following. Fee structure clarity • All charges (subscription, transaction, inter - est) must be explicitly outlined in Romanian. • PSD2 requires payment service providers to disclose total costs, including currency con - version fees, before transaction execution. partnership agreements. Mandatory disclosures
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