European fintech infrastructure glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms behind the catalogue - licences, sponsors, rails and the sovereignty concepts (EEA data residency, passporting, MiCA) that decide what you can build in Europe.
Payments that move directly between bank accounts - via open banking or domestic schemes like BLIK, iDEAL, Bizum and Wero - bypassing the card networks entirely.
An IBAN whose country code matches the customer's market (DE for Germany, FR for France) - the practical answer to IBAN discrimination.
A MiCA-regulated stablecoin: issued only by credit institutions or EMIs, reserves held in EU banks, redeemable at par - the supervised European alternative to USDC and USDT.
A provider audited and listed on the EU Trusted List to issue qualified e-signatures, seals, timestamps and certificates under eIDAS - the highest legal standard for signing in the EU.
The real-time engine that authorises, clears and settles card transactions on the issuing side - the system that says yes or no to every payment.
Hosting and processing data entirely within the European Economic Area - the practical GDPR / CLOUD Act test for European digital sovereignty.
The mandatory SEPA name-IBAN match: before a credit transfer, the payer's PSP checks that the payee name matches the account - EU-wide from October 2025.
Host Card Emulation: NFC payments from YOUR app instead of Apple/Google Pay - with iOS NFC access an EEA-only regulatory advantage since iOS 17.4.
The big-tech wallets. Getting cards into them requires token-requestor integration with the schemes' token services (Visa VTS, Mastercard MDES).
A provider that bundles accounts, payments, cards and compliance behind one licence and API, letting a non-bank embed regulated banking into its product.
An EU/EEA authorisation to issue electronic money and provide payment services - the workhorse licence behind most European fintech products.
A regulated institution and Visa/Mastercard principal member that lends its Bank Identification Number (BIN) to companies without their own scheme licence, so they can issue payment cards.
A provider that opens accounts and issues IBANs - often with local country codes - to fintechs under its own EMI, PI or banking licence (IBAN-as-a-service).
An EU/EEA authorisation to execute payments (transfers, acquiring, remittance) without issuing e-money or taking deposits.
The right of a firm licensed in one EEA state to operate across all 30 EEA states on that single licence.
A crypto-asset service provider authorised under the EU MiCA regulation for custody, exchange or transfer of crypto-assets - mandatory for serving EU clients from 1 July 2026.
Running fintech infrastructure on YOUR regulatory licence, with vendors supplying only technology - the opposite of a licence-umbrella model.
The legal requirement for EMIs and PIs to protect customer funds by segregating them at a credit institution (or insuring them) - distinct from deposit protection.