weXpay Authorised EMI
- France-based company eXpay asserts its EU-wide ambitions and announces it has been granted EMI authorisation by the Banque de France for its dematerialised payment solution weXpay (cash payment on the Internet). This communication follows 6.38 million euros fundraising aimed at providing for its development.
- The application submitted to the French regulator in 2008 is being accepted in 2011: it falls under the requirements of the first Electronic Money Directive (2000 1EMD). A second Directive (2009 2EMD) must be transposed in France by beginning 2012.
- This authorisation should contribute to weXpay’s development and help it reach 100 million euros transactions in 2012.
- The start-up eXpay was created in 2006 and launched an alternative means of payment based on the use of cash. This solution is also characterised by the anonymity it provides and does not require any bank account. It has been designed to allow micro-payments of digital goods.
- The customer pays cash for a 16 characters code: available at newsagents or Relay kiosks –the latter receive one euro for each delivered code– or online via card payment without additional charges.
- The notion of anonymity is key (as with cash payments) and a location system had to be set up to avoid potential fraud attempts (for “effective anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing rules”).
- The ACP often subjects effective authorisation to the setting up of internal control procedures and to additional fundraisings (here between end 2010 and mid-2011). If the company fails to comply with these requirements, it can only be granted a provisional authorisation.