The Bank of Lithuania has consented to a transaction allowing United Kingdom-based Checkout Payments Group Limited to acquire BLUE EMI LT, UAB, an electronic money institution licensed in Lithuania, enabling Checkout.com to enter the Lithuanian market. Checkout Payments Group Limited is the holding company of the Checkout.com Group, which has about 2,000 employees and is headquartered in London, providing payment services to e-commerce and fintech businesses. The central bank highlighted its licensing support framework, including the Newcomer Programme introduced in 2017 and access for licensed participants to its CENTROlink payment system for SEPA instant payments, and noted that it has issued more than 100 licences to new financial market participants and more than 150 authorisations over the past five years.