Pursuant to the Law on Payment Services and Electronic Money, Latvijas Banka issues authorisation to foreign exchange trading companies for purchasing and selling cash foreign currencies (for the purposes of currency exchange) and controls the operation of such companies. For information on obtaining authorisation, see the Section on the licensing of market participants.
Reporting to Latvijas Banka
Setting up a new foreign exchange trading venue
The foreign exchange trading company informs Latvijas Banka by submitting an application (free format) and appending the following documents thereto:
- layouts of the premises specifying the location of the foreign exchange trading venue in which the cash operations booth or automated foreign exchange trading machine is available;
- photos to ensure that the foreign exchange trading venue conforms with the requirements established in Chapter IV of the Regulation on Ensuring the Compliance with the Requirements for the Registration of Foreign Exchange Trading Companies, the Provision of Information and Foreign Exchange Trading (hereinafter – the Regulation; available in Latvian only);
- a copy of the technical certificate of the cash register or cash system registered with the State Revenue Service if the cash operations booth is located in the foreign exchange trading venue;
- a copy of the technical certificate of the automated foreign exchange trading machine registered with the State Revenue Service if such a machine is located in the foreign exchange trading venue.
Change of a shareholder or member (down to the natural person who is the beneficial owner within the meaning of the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (hereinafter – the Law)), the Chairperson of the Board (if any), a Member of the Board, the Chairperson of the Executive Board, a Member of the Executive Board, a holder of a procuration of a foreign exchange trading company and of the person responsible for ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Law in a foreign exchange trading company
The foreign exchange trading company informs Latvijas Banka by submitting completed Appendix 2 to the Regulation on Ensuring the Compliance with the Requirements for the Registration of Foreign Exchange Trading Companies, the Provision of Information and Foreign Exchange Trading (available in Latvian only) and appending the following documents thereto:
- the person's professional biography (CV, at least for the last 10 years also indicating the positions held and the functions performed);
- if this person is not a resident of Latvia, a document issued by the competent national authority of this person's home country and the country of residence or registration no earlier than six months prior to the date of submission of the notification confirming that the conditions referred to in Section 21 of the Law on Payment Services and Electronic Money do not apply to the candidate for the position;
- a copy of the minutes from the meeting of the competent administrative body of the foreign exchange trading company or an extract with a decision on the person's nomination for the discharge of duties, or a copy of the decision by the competent official of the foreign exchange trading company to appoint the person to the respective position;
- the statement of personal data protection (available in Latvian only).
Monitoring fee
The foreign exchange trading company authorised by Latvijas Banka pays 2000 euro per year and additionally up to 0.2% (inclusive) of the total value of foreign currencies purchased and sold in euro per year to Latvijas Banka; however, the total fee paid by the foreign exchange trading company to Latvijas Banka does not exceed 20 000 euro per year.
Where the foreign exchange trading company is registered with the Register of Institutions pursuant to Section 5 or 5.1 of the Law, the total fee to be paid by it to Latvijas Banka does not exceed 100 000 euro per year.
Every year, Latvijas Banka issues regulations on setting the amount of payments by financial and capital market participants for the financing of Latvijas Banka and on reporting which establish the variable part of the payment for each market participant and the procedure for executing payments.
Legal acts
- Law on Payment Services and Electronic Money
- Regulation on Ensuring the Compliance with the Requirements for the Registration of Foreign Exchange Trading Companies, the Provision of Information and Foreign Exchange Trading (available in Latvian only)
- Regulation on Compiling and Submitting Statistical Data on Foreign Exchange Transactions (available in Latvian only)
- Legal acts in anti-money laundering