Bank of Lithuania appoints “temporary representative” to oversee activities of payments fintech Kevin
The Bank of Lithuania says it has appointed a “temporary representative to oversee the activities” of Vilnius-headquartered payments infrastructure fintech Kevin and has “instructed the institution not to provide payment services to new customers” amid alleged delays around the submission of the fintech’s audited annual reports.
Kevin raised $65m in a Series A round in 2022
In a translated statement, the central bank alleges that the fintech is “almost four months late in submitting the audited annual accounts” and has “repeatedly postponed the deadline for their submission”.
It also alleges that Kevin “does not provide the auditors with the necessary information to complete the audit, does not comply with the requirements of equity capital adequacy, [and] does not ensure adequate internal control”.
As a result, the Bank of Lithuania has appointed independent company Valnetas to supervise the fintech’s activities, and has instructed Kevin to submit the audited set of annual reports for 2023 to the central bank by 30 August 2024.
The Bank of Lithuania writes: “The appointment of a temporary representative means that all decisions of the institution’s managers related to the activities of Kevin EU, UAB can only be made with the consent of the temporary representative, who will constantly provide information about the institution’s activities to the Bank of Lithuania.
“The Bank of Lithuania points out that the temporary representative does not take over the management of the institution, his appointment does not affect existing customers and their ability to use services.”
Founded in 2018, Kevin provides an advanced account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure to replace costly card transactions. In 2022, it secured $65 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel.
The fintech was contacted by FinTech Futures for comment.
