FCA Register Audit: Which iGaming PSPs Actually Hold UK Authorization

A UK payment authorization can mean at least five different things, from an e-money institution that holds client funds to a payment-initiation firm that never touches the money. Which one stands behind a provider decides where player money sits and what an operator's due diligence has to cover. For each of the 20 providers below, the answer comes down to the legal entity behind the brand and the permission set that entity holds on the Financial Services Register.

Paramount Commerce is the one provider of the 20 with no UK authorization, because the FCA canceled the authorization of its UK entity, Citadel Commerce UK Ltd, on July 12, 2024. Naudapay Limited, the UK company that carried the Noda brand, still holds its FCA authorization but has been barred from providing payment services since January 9, 2026.

FCA authorization types: EMI, payment institution, PIS/AIS-only firm, bank branch and EMD agent

An Authorised Electronic Money Institution issues e-money and holds client funds under the safeguarding rules, and it usually carries the full permission set, acquiring and remittance included. A provider that runs wallets or holds merchant balances in the UK needs this authorization.

An Authorised Payment Institution moves money without issuing it. Its class label says less than the permission list underneath, which can run from a full acquiring-and-remittance set down to two permissions. Two parts of that list matter most in gambling payments. Permission 5 (acquiring and issuing of payment instruments) is what a card-side processor needs, and permissions 7 and 8 (payment initiation and account information) are the open-banking pair.

A PIS/AIS-only firm is a payment institution that holds only that open-banking pair. Its FCA authorization is real, but the firm only initiates payments from the player's bank account and reads account data. The money moves from bank to bank without passing through the firm, so there is nothing to safeguard, and an operator's due diligence on it is about the payment flow and data access.

A credit institution branch is the UK branch of a foreign bank, authorized by the Prudential Regulation Authority under banking rules. An EMD agent provides e-money services on a principal's license, so the authorization and the safeguarding obligation belong to the principal.

FCA status of 20 iGaming payment providers by legal entity

The FCA authorizes legal entities, so each row names the legal entity behind the brand, with its firm reference number (FRN).

Paramount Commerce's canceled FCA authorization

Paramount Commerce runs Interac e-Transfer and Instant Bank Transfer for regulated Canadian casinos and sportsbooks. Its UK authorization came with the 2014 acquisition of Citadel Commerce Corp and sat on Citadel Commerce UK Limited (FRN 575193) until the FCA canceled it on July 12, 2024. No Paramount group company has held a UK authorization since, and Paramount processes in Canada only.

In Canada, Element Financial Technology Inc, which trades as Paramount Commerce, holds a FINTRAC money services business registration. It was registered with the Bank of Canada under the Retail Payment Activities Act on October 10, 2025, and became a direct member of Payments Canada in January 2026.

Naudapay's FCA authorization, its split from Noda, and the UK wind-down

Naudapay Limited (FRN 832969) carried the Noda brand from its 2020 launch and is still an Authorised Payment Institution with six permissions (1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8), so its class alone suggests the brand has a live UK license. Under a voluntary undertaking in force since January 9, 2026, though, Naudapay may not provide any payment service or take on new customers without the FCA's written consent. The company has separated from the Noda brand and is in an orderly wind-down of its UK business, which it announced in late 2025.

The Noda brand now sits with Stone Rose Operations Limited, a technical services company in Nicosia, Cyprus, that holds no payment license. Noda's payments run through licensed partners, Yapily Connect and Paytently PI Limited. Yapily Connect is authorized by the FCA in the UK and by the Bank of Lithuania in the EU, and Paytently PI holds MFSA license PPI-2522. Noda connects more than 2,000 banks in 26 countries for euro payments, none of them in the UK, so a UK operator that signs with Noda gets neither an FCA-authorized counterparty nor access to British players' bank accounts.

FCA permissions by provider: Skrill, Yaspa, Xace, Volt and Worldpay

Skrill Limited and Yaspa Limited show how far apart two FCA authorizations can be. Skrill, Paysafe's wallet entity, holds the full permission set from e-money issuance to account information and can hold player and merchant funds under safeguarding. Yaspa holds two permissions, payment initiation and account information, and never holds funds. It sends the pay-by-bank instruction and steps out of the flow. For a gambling operator the two are different products with different counterparty exposure, and each needs its own questions in a due-diligence file, though the FCA has authorized both.

Xace's own authorization covers accounts and remittance with no acquiring, and its e-money accounts and cards run on the license of Modulr FS, with Xace as its EMD agent. Volt holds two kinds of authorization under one brand, a full EMI on the operating company and a legacy PIS/AIS-only payment institution authorization on the holding company. Worldpay received its EMI on November 19, 2025, while three legacy payment institution entities stayed authorized, and Global Payments closed its acquisition of Worldpay on January 12, 2026. The timing points to licensing restructuring ahead of the deal.

How to check a payment provider on the FCA register

A check on the Financial Services Register takes minutes if you read the record in order. Search by the legal entity named on your contract, since brand and entity often differ. AstroPay holds its UK authorization through Larstal Ltd, and Trust Payments holds its through TrustUk Payments Ltd. Read the permission list as well as the status line, because "Authorised" says a firm may operate while the permissions say what it may do with your money. Look for requirements and undertakings on the firm, because they leave the status line untouched. Larstal's status read "Authorised" all through the 15 months its voluntary requirement paused new UK sign-ups, and Naudapay's still reads "Authorised" under its undertaking. Then put a date on what you find, since a status can change at any point.

The same question of which legal entity holds which authorization applies to EU crypto payments under MiCA, to Brazilian payment institutions at the central bank, to US gaming approvals in six state registers and to payment gateways registered with Peru's MINCETUR. In the UK, the rules that sit on top of authorization, from gross deposit limits under RTS 12B to the wider iGaming payment compliance stack, have their own guides.