On Thursday (June 24), FinTech group Mode Global Holdings (“Mode”) announced that it had become the only company listed in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to receive from the UK’s financial regulator an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence and an AMLD5 registration. This article explains why this is important for both Mode and its customers.

Mode offers two main products:

  • For consumers, it offers the very popular Mode app, which allows them to (1) makes it easy to buy/hold Bitcoin; (2) send Bitcoin (free to other Mode users); (3) with the Android version of the app, use their GBP balance to pay for goods/services and receive cashback paid in Bitcoin on select purchases.
  • For businesses, it offers an Open Banking payments and loyalty platform that helps them to avoid high debit/credit card processing fees and to boost customer loyalty.

According to Mode’s press release, which was published yesterday on the LSE’s website, the EMI license from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which was granted to Mode subsidiary Greyfoxx Limited, will “enable Mode to offer a range of innovative financial services to both businesses and consumers in the UK.”

Mode’subsidiary Fibermode Limited is now a Registered Cryptoasset firm thanks to its AMLD5 registration, which is needed for businesses conducting cryptoasset activities in the UK. This makes it only the fifth company in the UK to receive the AMLD5 registration.

Jonathan Rowland, Chairman of Mode, stated:

“From day one, Mode set out to obtain the necessary licences to become an FCA regulated financial services business in the UK, and today we are extremely proud of what we have accomplished. We’ve spent the last year building our business around security and compliance, and today we can say our ecosystem is powered by a portfolio of FCA licences, hard-earned by building trust with the regulator. I’m proud to say that Mode is one of only a handful of UK companies to have been granted an EMI licence and AMLD5 registration, and the only one listed on the LSE Main Market.“

Richard Morecroft, COO of Mode, tweeted:

And Ryan Moore, CEO of Mode, had this to say:

“Today’s announcement is a major step in Mode’s mission to deliver a trusted and regulated environment, where our customers can feel safe using our products. For Mode, it means we now have the ability to scale our operations and continue delivering innovative payments products for our customers under our own EMI licence. Both the EMI licence and the AMLD5 registration ensure business transparency, strong oversight and give our customers confidence in our offering. It’s a testament to our strong growth ambitions and the dedication of our team; there are exciting times ahead.“

Yesterday, during an interview with journalist Katie Pilbeam, the Mode CEO said:

“These licenses give us that trusted platform to build upon. With these licenses we have the capability to launch innovative financial services to businesses and consumers that would truly disrupt. Right now, we are going right after a £720 billion card payments market that has too much unnecessary friction and it has legacy infrastructure, and we’re going after it with our end-to-end payments solutions that are going to bring that market right into our wheelhouse.“

DISCLAIMER

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.