Global spend management solution Payhawk has obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence in the UK granted by the Financial Conduct Authority . Following this announcement, the new UK EMI licence is set to give Payhawk the possibility to directly issue electronic money, facilitate digital payments, and provide card issuance tools and payment services to new and existing customers in the region.

The Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence was granted from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after extensive due diligence into Payhawk’s compliance, financial, and operational processes and procedures. More information on the announcement Payhawk represents a business spend management service developed for domestic and international companies through the areas of the UK, the US, and Europe. By combining company cards, reimbursable expenses, accounts payable, and secure accounting software integrations into a single tool, Payhawk focuses on optimising its customer experience.

The company’s secure and efficient software allows it to launch new, high-quality features and solutions for its customers, and the new UK EMI licence will provide it with the opportunity to unlock new opportunities for them as well. By controlling more of the payment procedure stack for its users, Payhawk aims to optimise the infrastructure to address the needs, preferences, and demands of its client base in an ever-evolving industry, while remaining compliant with the laws and regulations of the local industry. This will also further accelerate the overall development velocity, digitalisation, and security.

In addition to the EMI licence in the UK, Payhawk holds an EMI licence covering the EEA region, as a principal member of Visa Europe, which was accredited by ICAEW's Technology Accreditation program. At the same time, the company maintains PCI DSS Level 1, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 certifications. Payhawk’s recent strategy of development Payhawk had multiple partnerships and product launches in the last couple of months, covering several different geographic areas around the world. In November 2023, Payhawk announced the launch of its Purchase Orders system, aiming to enable companies to automate their procure-to-pay processes.

Following this release, Payhawk focused on allowing businesses to automate their procure-to-pay procedures in order to further increase efficiency and control in the overall business transactions. The tool aimed to streamline procurement operations by incorporating purchase requests, approvals, three-way matching between invoices, Purchase Order development, as well as the ability to pay in local and cross-border transfers while leveraging one platform. Earlier in the same month, Payhawk announced that it had received principal member status from Visa, which advanced its mission to simplify business payments.

The membership granted Payhawk the ability to directly issue Visa cards without relying on third parties, as well as with improved control of its payment infrastructure. This also aimed to accelerate innovation and optimise the manner in which firms ensured optimised service reliability and resilience. .