Lithuanian regulators have taken a series of measures to address criticisms that a central bank-administered retail payment system used mostly by digital payment platforms has raised their country's exposure to financial crime-related risk. The Bank of Lithuania, also known as BoL, launched CENTROlink, a platform that gives banks, electronic money institutions and payment service providers a direct gateway to the Single Euro Payments Area, or SEPA, in 2015, largely to address the difficulties fintechs often encountered when trying to secure correspondent services from mainstream banks. CENTROlink has since helped refashion Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, into a hub for European fintechs, even...
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