Financial license in Bulgaria can be obtained quickly and at quite reasonable costs. Bulgarian financial institutions are governed by the Credit Institutions Act and in accordance with its Art. 3, a financial institution is a legal entity different from a credit institution or an investment intermediary. Main activity of licensed financial institutions in Bulgaria is performing one or more of the following:

1. Providing payment services under the Payment Services and Payment Systems Act;
2. Issuing and administering other means of payment (travellers checks and letters of credit) as far as this activity is not covered by item 1;
3. Financial leasing;
4. Guarantee transactions;
5. Trading on your own account or for account of customers in foreign currencies and precious metals with the exception of derivative financial instruments on foreign currency and precious metals;
6. Provision of services and / or activities under Art. 5 para. 2 and 3 of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive;
7. Currency brokerage;
8. Acquisition of credit claims and other forms of financing (factoring, forfeiting, etc.);
9. Issuing electronic money;
10. Acquisition of shares in a credit institution or other financial institution;
11. Lending funds, that are not raised through public deposits or other repayable funds.

Financial institutions are subject to registration with BNB (Bulgarian National Bank) public register. A very important detail in this regard is that if there is a specific activity under a special law – the arrangements for licensing a Bulgarian financial institution are different. For example, a financial institution that issues electronic money should be registered and licensed under the Payment Services and Payment Systems Act. read more