Prohibition on provision of payment services by persons other than payment service providersU.K.
138.—(1) A person may not provide a payment service in the United Kingdom, or purport to do so, unless the person is—
(a)an authorised payment institution;
(b)a small payment institution;
(c)a registered account information service provider;
(d)an EEA authorised payment institution or an EEA registered account information service provider exercising its passport rights;
(e)a credit institution authorised in the United Kingdom or exercising an EEA right in accordance with Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the 2000 Act (exercise of passport rights by EEA firms);
(f)an electronic money institution which for the purposes of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 M1 is—
(i)registered in the United Kingdom as an authorised electronic money institution or a small electronic money institution; or
(ii)an EEA authorised electronic money institution exercising passport rights in the United Kingdom;
(g)the Post Office Limited;
(h)the Bank of England, the European Central Bank or a national central bank of an EEA State other than the United Kingdom,
(i)a government department or a local authority; or
(j)exempt under regulation 3 (exemption for certain bodies).
(2) A person who contravenes paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence and is liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine, which in Scotland or Northern Ireland may not exceed the statutory maximum, or both;
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or both.
Marginal Citations