EMI (Electronic Money Institution)
An Electronic Money Institution is a regulated entity, licensed separately from a bank, authorized to issue e-money and provide payment accounts and services. EMIs generally hold client funds in safeguarded accounts rather than lending them out, which shapes both their risk appetite and their limits.
An EMI account typically opens in 2-3 weeks against 8-12 weeks for a comparable bank account, but usually caps daily transaction volume and offers no deposit guarantee scheme, so a business moving above roughly 500,000 EUR a month often needs a bank relationship behind the EMI, not instead of it.
A segregated account holds client funds separately from a firm’s own operating capital, so client money is never at risk if the firm becomes insolvent.
Correspondent banking is the arrangement where one bank holds accounts for and executes payments on behalf of another bank, usually to reach currencies or jurisdictions the first bank cannot access directly.
Know Your Business is the due-diligence process banks, EMIs, and acquirers run to verify a corporate applicant: beneficial ownership, incorporation documents, source of funds, and the nature of the business itself.
Settlement is the transfer of cleared transaction funds from the card network or payment rail into the merchant’s bank account, net of fees, chargebacks, and any reserve withheld.