ELM 4.2 Purpose

One purpose of this chapter is to limit the activities of an ELMI to ones closely connected to issuing e-money. ELM simplifies, for ELMIs, the capital adequacy requirements that apply to banks and building societies but imposes controls that do not apply to them. Those controls include ones on the activities that an ELMI may carry on. The prudential requirements for ELMIs are not designed to support a wider range of activities. The limitation on activities provides further help in ensuring that an ELMI is able to redeem its e-money when it is required to.

This chapter implements article 1(5) of the E-Money Directive and the prohibition in that Directive on issuing e-money at a discount.

The prohibition on issuing e-money at a discount avoids the financial risk that might affect an e-money firm that issues e-money for less than the amount required to redeem it. The prohibition also helps to prevent e-money firms from creating monetary value in an uncontrolled way. In an extreme case, that could lead the monetary stock to expand without central banks being able to monitor it. That would hinder monetary analysis and affect the adequacy of monetary policy instruments. If the activities of e-money firms were to become a source of such instability, that could prejudice consumers who deal with them.