On 10 June 2021, the Governing Council of the Bulgarian National Bank granted an e-money institution licence to Econt Financial Services EOOD (press release ). The company will provide innovative e-money, payment services and solutions and will enable its customers to open electronic money accounts (via mobile wallets).
BOYANOV & Co. provided full legal advice, support and assistance to Econt Financial Services throughout the licensing procedure, including advice on the regulatory, corporate, contractual and other relevant legal aspects.
The successful obtaining of the licence required a great deal of effort and diligence on the part of the regulator, provider, and legal counsel. BOYANOV & Co.’s participation in the project started with providing support on the legal aspects of designing the business processes and models. This required not only a good understanding of the regulatory requirements but also of the contractual, business and technical processes and IT requirements and environment. The firm assisted EFS in the preparation of all documents required to apply for a licence and afterwards – in providing support in answering the inquiries of the regulator. As a result of the excellent cooperation and dedicated work of all parties involved, the licence was obtained within the expected timeline which would allow Econt Financial Services to promptly proceed to final testing and the Go-Live stage of the innovative fintech platform.
EFS is among the few licensed local e-money institutions in Bulgaria. The company is wholly owned by the local entrepreneur Mr. Nikolay Sabev, owner of the leading logistics and courier service in Bulgaria – Econt Express.
The firm’s team included counsel Svetlina Kortenska, partner Nikolay Zisov and junior associate Atanas Grigorov.