Lithuania · EMI

Card issuing for Lithuanian e-money institutions

Your EMI owns the card programme and the customer. A scheme member handles BIN sponsorship and processing under a contract you sign with it, and the platform links each card to an e-money balance and gives you the controls.

Case Studies

See what teams build with Crassula.

Card Issuing · EMI

Card programmes a Lithuanian EMI can run

Debit-style cards on e-money accounts

Each card spends from the customer's e-money balance on the ledger, with authorisations placed as holds and settled when the transaction clears.

Prepaid cards

Cards topped up from an account and emptied back into it, with a dry run that shows the result before the money moves.

Virtual first, plastic later

Issue a virtual card at onboarding and convert the same card to plastic when the customer orders one, without a second card number to manage.

Corporate expense cards

Cards for a company's employees on one business account, each with its own spending limit and freeze switch for the finance team.

Card controls in your app

Temporary and permanent blocks, per-card limits, PIN delivery and retry resets, and secure display of card details, all inside your branded app.

What this licence does not cover

  • Credit cards funded from e-money balances. Credit is only possible as an ancillary service, funded separately and within short limits.
  • Interest on card balances.
  • A card programme without a scheme member behind it. Unless your EMI becomes a principal member itself, you need a BIN sponsor or issuing partner.
  • Anonymous prepaid cards above the thresholds allowed by AML rules.
Your market

What the regulator asks about your IT

Each requirement, what the platform gives you for it and who owns it after launch.

1Contract with a scheme member issuer or BIN sponsor

Pre-integrated issuers and processors, and the technical description your issuer asks for during onboarding.

You sign directly with the issuer
2Outsourcing of card processing and the DORA register of information

A map of who does what between your EMI, the processor and Crassula, with subcontractors and hosting locations.

You, with our input
3Strong customer authentication for online card payments

3-D Secure sessions through Decta, approved or declined by the cardholder in your app.

Shared with the processor
4Safeguarding of funds behind card balances

Card balances, open holds and settled transactions per customer, exported for your safeguarding reconciliation.

Your finance team, on platform data
5PCI DSS scope for card data

A PCI DSS Level 1 platform with yearly audits, penetration tests and quarterly internal scans, and a cardholder data endpoint that keeps card numbers out of your own systems.

Shared
6AML controls on card spending

Card limits per customer and per card, plus transaction and hold data exports for your monitoring tool.

Your MLRO
7Chargebacks and disputes

Card transaction history and spending details your support team needs to raise and track a dispute with the processor.

You, with the processor
Lithuania

Payment rails and providers

Rails your customers can use

VisaMastercardSEPA Credit TransferSEPA InstantCard top-up from account

Decta

Card processor and Visa and Mastercard principal member, holding EMI licences in the EEA and offering BIN sponsorship and white-label issuing to licensed financial institutions. Pre-integrated with Crassula, including 3-D Secure. You contract Decta directly.

Prefer another provider?

Crassula connects 60+ payment, banking and compliance integrations. We will check which ones fit your licence.

Explore all connectors →
24/7real-time processing, no batch window
60+payment and provider integrations connected
150+companies run on Crassula
15+languages the platform speaks
Lithuania

Dates to plan around

Rules that change what you have to build, in the order they apply.

  1. 17 Jan 2025

    DORA applies. Your card processor and your card platform both belong in the register of information you keep for the Bank of Lithuania.

  2. 10 Jul 2027

    The EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation applies directly, including its rules on when e-money and prepaid cards can skip full due diligence.

  3. Around 2028

    The Payment Services Regulation is expected to apply, with updated rules on strong customer authentication and fraud liability for card payments.

EMI

Applying to the Bank of Lithuania for an EMI licence with cards in the plan? Name us in your file.

If cards are part of the business plan, the Bank of Lithuania will ask how the programme is built, who processes it and how card funds are safeguarded. We show the card flows on a working platform and write that part of the technical file with you.

Talk to us about your application

Crassula provides technology and documentation support. We do not provide legal or regulatory advice and cannot guarantee the outcome of an application.

  1. 01

    A platform you can demonstrate

    A configured environment to show the regulator, not slides.

  2. 02

    The technical part of your application, prepared

    IT systems, card processing outsourcing, ICT risk under DORA, PCI DSS scope and continuity sections of your Bank of Lithuania file.

  3. 03

    Providers lined up

    Card issuing and processing through Decta, plus banking, safeguarding and KYC providers from our network, matched to your licence.

An everyday contactless payment at an independent café.
Card Issuing

How a launch usually runs

Take a Lithuanian EMI with a few thousand business customers that wants to give them expense cards. The EMI signs a BIN sponsorship and processing agreement with an issuer, and we connect its card products to the platform so each company can issue cards to staff from the app.

The finance teams set limits per employee, freeze a card in one tap when someone leaves, and approve 3-D Secure checks on their phones. Virtual cards go live first. Plastic follows after the card design gets scheme approval, and each existing virtual card is converted rather than replaced.

Start with the Lithuania EMI licence guide, then read how EMI licensing works across the EU.

Lithuania · EMI

FAQ

The questions teams ask us before a first call.

Not covered here?Bring your question to a demo with our team.
Can a Lithuanian EMI issue Visa or Mastercard cards?
Yes. Issuing payment instruments is within an EMI licence. To put a scheme brand on the card you either become a principal member or, more often, work with a BIN sponsor that already is one.
Does Crassula provide the BIN?
No. Crassula is not a scheme member. You contract the issuer or BIN sponsor directly, and interchange terms are part of that agreement. The platform is pre-integrated with issuers such as Decta.
What can we control through the API?
Card issuing, conversion from virtual to plastic, temporary and permanent blocks, per-card limits, PIN delivery and retry resets, card top-ups and withdrawals, holds and 3-D Secure approvals.
How do card funds fit into safeguarding?
A card linked to e-money spends from a safeguarded balance. The ledger shows balances, open holds and settled card spend for each customer, which your finance team uses for reconciliation.
How long does a card programme take to launch?
Most of the time goes into the issuer's onboarding and scheme approval of the card design. Virtual cards can usually go live first, while plastic waits for production.
Lithuania · EMI

Card programmes a Lithuanian EMI can run

Tell us your licence and country. We will map the rails, providers and documents you need.

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