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Gibraltar operates its own GFSC-supervised EMI/PI regime; the UK-EU Agreement on Gibraltar (signed 14 Jul 2026) does not restore or create EU financial-services passporting. UK-Gibraltar market access continues via the Financial Services (Gibraltar) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2025, extended to 31 December 2026.
The 2026 UK-EU Gibraltar Treaty, provisionally applied from 15 July 2026, explicitly excludes financial services and other services from its scope except where those services distort trade in goods. This confirms that UK-Gibraltar financial-services access, including payments market access, is handled entirely separately from the Treaty framework; the GAR and the transitional passporting arrangements, not the Treaty, are the operative instruments governing market access for payment institutions and e-money institutions.
Separately, and on the EU/EEA side, Gibraltar Financial Services Commission-authorised e-money institutions and payment institutions have been unable to passport into EEA member states since 1 January 2021, following the post-Brexit loss of EEA passport rights. GFSC authorisation remains the sole route to operate as an e-money institution or payment institution in or from Gibraltar. This structural fact, EEA access permanently foreclosed and UK access transitional pending the GAR, defines Gibraltar's current market-access posture for payment institutions and e-money institutions, though this cycle's sourcing does not differentiate the practical authorisation pathway for non-bank payment institutions and e-money institutions from that available to banks under the prospective GAR.
Outlook
The permanent Gibraltar Authorisation Regime, expected around the fourth quarter of 2026, is the clearest forthcoming development for this module, and would supersede the transitional passporting extension currently running to 31 December 2026. Confirmation of Gibraltar-side implementing detail for the passporting extension itself, and of whether the GAR will preserve existing activity-level authorisations for payment institutions and e-money institutions without a fresh application, are the two open questions most likely to be resolved next.
Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access
Gibraltars payments market-access architecture remains in a structurally unresolved transitional state. Gibraltar-licensed payment institutions and electronic money institutions currently access the UK market under a transitional arrangement that runs only to 31 December 2026, a fixed and approaching expiry date rather than an open-ended accommodation. The permanent replacement, the Gibraltar Authorisation Regime, was described in a June 2026 ministerial statement as still roughly eighteen months away from being operational, with its progress tied in part to amendments proceeding through the UK Financial Services and Markets Bill currently before Parliament. This creates a visible gap: the transitional window closes at the end of this year, while the permanent regime intended to succeed it is not expected to be in place until well into 2027 or later, leaving open the question of whether a further extension to the transitional arrangement will be required to bridge that gap.
The UK-EU Agreement in respect of Gibraltar, signed 14 July 2026 and provisionally applied from the same date, does not alter this picture, and firms should not read it as resolving any part of the market-access question. The Agreement is substantively an AML/CFT non-regression instrument; it confirms no EU-side passporting or market-access right for Gibraltar-licensed payment or e-money firms. Gibraltars market-access position therefore continues to depend entirely on the UK leg of the relationship, specifically the transitional arrangement and its eventual permanent successor, rather than on any EU-side mechanism.
This combination, a time-limited UK transitional window, a permanent regime still materially distant, and no EU-side alternative, constitutes the dominant licensing and market-access theme for Gibraltar this cycle. It is a structural, not episodic, condition: no single enforcement action or licence decision drives it, but rather the pace at which UK primary and secondary legislation accommodating a permanent Gibraltar framework progresses, set against a transitional arrangement with a fixed and now relatively near expiry date.
Outlook
The clearest forward marker is 31 December 2026, the expiry date of the current transitional passporting arrangement. Firms licensed in Gibraltar and relying on UK market access should treat the period between now and that date as the operative window for either the permanent Gibraltar Authorisation Regime reaching a sufficiently advanced stage, or a further extension to the transitional arrangement being agreed; absent either development occurring, Gibraltar-licensed firms could face a market-access gap into 2027. Progress of the UK Financial Services and Markets Bill through Parliament is the legislative vehicle most directly tied to how quickly the permanent regime can be finalised, and is accordingly the single most relevant external development to monitor for this module going forward.
3 earlier distinct update(s)
Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access
Gibraltar's market-access position for payment and e-money firms serving the UK rests on a temporary arrangement that is approaching its scheduled end. The FSMA (Gibraltar) Order 2001 established a passporting bridge allowing Gibraltar-licensed firms to access the UK market; this bridge was extended by SI 2025/1182 and is now due to expire on 31 December 2026. The intended permanent replacement, the Gibraltar Authorisation Regime (GAR) established under the UK Financial Services Act 2021, has not yet become operational. A ministerial statement from Minister Feetham indicated the regime remained roughly 18 months from introduction as at the time the statement was made, meaning the permanent regime is unlikely to be ready before the temporary bridge expires on its current schedule.
The practical effect for Gibraltar-licensed electronic-money institutions and payment institutions currently serving UK customers under the temporary bridge is a forward-looking market-access risk: if neither the GAR becomes operational nor the bridge is further extended before 31 December 2026, these firms face a gap in their ability to continue serving UK customers on the basis they currently rely on. No evidence this cycle indicates whether a further extension is under active consideration or confirmed.
Outlook
The critical date is 31 December 2026. Firms and counterparties should watch for either confirmation of GAR operability or a further extension announcement well ahead of that date; neither was evidenced as having occurred as at this record.
Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access
Gibraltar's payment and e-money institutions continue to access the UK market through transitional rather than permanent arrangements. The UK-GI transitional passporting arrangements, originally established under SI 2019/589, have been extended to 31 December 2026 via the Financial Services (Gibraltar) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2025. This is confirmed at high confidence via a T1 Bank of England source. The permanent Gibraltar Authorisation Regime (GAR), which is intended eventually to replace this transitional bridge with a settled bilateral market-access framework, remains not-yet-operational.
The practical consequence for both bank and non-bank payment institutions and e-money institutions operating from Gibraltar into the UK is continued reliance on a bridging legal mechanism now extended for a further twelve months, rather than the durable market-access certainty a permanent regime would provide. This affects both bank-affiliated and non-bank PI/EMI structures, as the transitional arrangements apply across both categories.
Outlook
The extension to 31 December 2026 sets the next clear decision point: either the GAR becomes operational before that date, providing a permanent basis, or the transitional arrangements will need extending again. Persistent reliance on transitional rather than permanent arrangements, now stretching across multiple extensions, itself signals unresolved structural uncertainty for GI-domiciled PSPs and EMIs dependent on UK market access.
Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access
Gibraltar's financial-services market access has bifurcated durably this cycle. The UK-EU Agreement on Gibraltar, signed 14 July 2026 and provisionally applied from 15 July 2026, covers movement of people, customs, indirect taxation, goods, transport, security cooperation and governance but explicitly does not extend to financial-services passporting or other services passporting for Gibraltar-licensed firms. This is a scope carve-out rather than an ambiguous gap: EU market access for Gibraltar-licensed payment institutions and e-money institutions remains closed under this treaty specifically.
UK market access continues instead through a separate bilateral instrument, the Financial Services (Gibraltar) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2025, which extends transitional UK-Gibraltar financial-services market access to 31 December 2026. This is distinct in both legal basis and durability from the EU treaty: it is a time-limited UK domestic regulation rather than an international treaty provision, and it carries a hard expiry date absent further extension.
Gibraltar also entered a customs union with the European Union from 10 April 2026, introducing a new Transaction Tax starting at 15 percent and rising to 17 percent. This customs arrangement is goods-only; it does not cover services, so the cross-border supply of payment and e-money services by Gibraltar-licensed EMIs and PIs is unaffected by these customs provisions. Separately and without change this cycle, the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission continues to apply an e-money capital-buffer requirement set at the minimum requirements imposed by the second Electronic Money Directive (2009/110/EC) increased by 20 percent -- a standing bank-vs-non-bank-relevant prudential requirement that sits on top of the EMD2 floor specifically for Gibraltar-licensed e-money institutions, distinguishing their capital treatment from that of bank-based payment providers.
Outlook
The 31 December 2026 expiry of the Financial Services (Gibraltar) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2025 transitional provisions is the key date to track. Absent a further extension, Gibraltar-licensed EMIs and PIs with UK-facing business would lose their transitional UK market-access basis at that point, while EU access remains separately foreclosed by the July 2026 treaty's explicit scope carve-out -- compounding into a genuine cliff-edge risk for firms dependent on either corridor.
1 further periodic run re-emitted the standing brief unchanged and is not shown.
Sources and findings (5)
- T3Valsen Corporate / GFSC eMoney pages — E-money issuance in Gibraltar is regulated under the Financial Services (Banking) Act 1992 framework and specifically the Financial Services (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011/2020; the GFSC authorises and supervises EMIs.
- T1GFSC (fsc.gi) Electronic Money Institutions page — Two EMI types exist: authorised and registered; registered EMIs cannot passport. EMIs may appoint agents (registered with GFSC) and distributors (notified to GFSC); neither may issue e-money.
- T1GFSC (fsc.gi) Payment Service Provider page — Authorised Credit Institutions or Electronic Money Issuers are not required to apply for a separate payment-service permission, but must ensure they carry payment services under their authorisation and comply with payment-services requirements; applications follow a Staged Application for Authorisation approach.
- T3Ramparts (ramparts.gi) GAR & UK Market Access — Under the Gibraltar Authorisation Regime (GAR) UK market access is via notification (not fresh UK authorisation); payment/e-money activities currently rely on separate transitional provisions — PSRs Schedule 7 and EMRs reg 74A — granting sector-specific temporary permission rather than FSMA deemed authorisation, with HMT yet to decide whether to fold them into Schedule 2A.
- T1GFSC (fsc.gi) Electronic Money Institutions page — GFSC raises minimum prudential thresholds: under Schedule 2 paras 15-16 of the Electronic Money Regulations, the minimum requirements of EMD2 (2009/110/EC) are directed to be increased by 20%.