Legal basis: № 2069290126
For payment system participants
This section is for banks, payment organisations and fintech companies considering joining the MONTRA payment system as participants. It sets out what the operator actually does, where the boundary of its responsibility runs, and what your compliance team will need.
Join the MONTRA network
We are building an international network together with banks, financial organisations and technology partners.
MONTRA is open to cooperation with:
- banks
- payment organisations
- processing centres
- fintech companies
- digital wallets
- financial applications
- technology platforms
What the operator does, and what the participating bank does
MONTRA processes financial information. Settlement in money is carried out by participating banks through their own correspondent relationships.
This is not a disclaimer but the substance of the licence: a payment system operator receives, processes and issues financial information to participants, yet it does not maintain accounts and does not move funds. Authorisation of a transaction is performed by the issuer of the payment instrument. The final movement of money takes place between participating banks over their correspondent relationships, on the basis of the clearing documents the operator produces.
Verbatim from the licence
provision of services for receiving, processing and issuing financial information (processing, clearing) on payments and settlements of third parties to participants of the payment system of this processing and clearing centre№ 2069290126 · Form ВА 00121 · 29 January 2026
What the operator’s services cover
The four functions below translate the licence wording — receiving, processing and issuing — into operational terms.
- 01
Message routing
Operational messages are received from participants, checked for format and mandatory fields, and passed on to the addressed participant.
- 02
Calculation of clearing net positions
Mutual claims and obligations of participants over a settlement period are offset down to a single net position per participant.
- 03
Clearing files and registers
The documents participating banks act on to settle in money, plus operation registers for reconciliation on the participant’s side.
- 04
Exchange over secured channels
Messages and files travel between the operator and participants over secured channels with access control and operation logging. Channel requirements are described in the technical documentation handed to the participant.
Both licences held by one legal entity
MONTRA holds both National Bank licences: payment system operator and payment organisation. For your compliance team that means one counterparty instead of a chain: one legal entity, one set of constitutive and licensing documents, one review, one contract.
In transaction handling this has a practical consequence: accepting the payment from the payer and the subsequent processing and clearing of that same payment happen within one perimeter, so registers and clearing documents do not have to be reconciled between two independent contractors.
| Licence number | Licences | Issue date |
|---|---|---|
| № 2069290126 | Payment system operator | 29 January 2026 |
| № 3071290126 | Payment organisation | 29 January 2026 |
What the operator does not do
The list is exhaustive: none of the following is covered by our licences, and none of it is carried out.
- does not open or maintain accounts;
- does not take deposits and does not lend;
- does not issue electronic money and does not hold balances;
- does not carry out currency exchange;
- does not perform the monetary execution of transfers: the movement of funds is performed by licensed participants;
- is not an acquirer: acquiring is provided by a partner bank;
- does not authorise transactions in place of the issuer.
MONTRA is not a bank; it does not take deposits and does not issue electronic money.
To be confirmed
The parameters below are not published here until they are confirmed by a document. Exact values are provided to the participant together with the draft contract and the technical documentation.
- technical requirements for a participant and supported exchange formats to be confirmed
- the settlement cycle and the operational day cut-off time to be confirmed
- the schedule for delivering clearing documents to be confirmed
- participant tariffs to be confirmed
- connection timelines and test environment access to be confirmed
Next step
The joining procedure for a participant, the composition of the payment system rules and the dispute resolution procedure are set out on a separate page.