No licence without a banking plan.
An authorisation without payment rails is paperwork. We scope banking and payment readiness from the first call.
About · SKY7 Fintech Solutions46 Licensing routes
46
Active licensing routesEditorial folio · 02 / About
Fintech licensing & compliance consultancy for founders who need the licence and the operating reality.
We help fintech operators plan, obtain and operationalise regulated authorisations through UK-led execution: licence scoping, application strategy, bank and payment readiness, corporate structuring, AML/compliance build-out and go-live support. Where a matter involves non-UK licensing routes, those routes are scoped under written engagement documents and local review where required.
- Licensing mandates
- 50+
- Active licensing routes
- 46
- Indicative median lead time
- 6mo
Editorial folio 02 / 12Ref · S7-ABT-1920-A
Section 01 · Who we are
SKY7 · Established MMXXIV · Incorporated in England and Wales
SKY7 Fintech Solutions Ltd is a UK-based licensing consultancy for founders and operators building regulated fintech, crypto, payments, brokerage, gaming and corporate structures.
Our work starts with a practical read of the business model: what regulated activity is being performed, how funds move, which permissions are required, and what banking or compliance infrastructure must be ready before an application can succeed.
We stay close to the operational details that usually slow teams down — company formation, licensing scope, document packs, regulator questions, bank account readiness and post-approval setup.
The result is not a generic advisory memo. It is a delivery plan with clear owners, sequence, assumptions and evidence — built for teams that need to move from idea or acquisition target to a regulated operating business.
- Map the real activity to the right licence category.
- Manage regulator dialogue through the application process.
- Prepare banking and payment rails before launch — not after.
- Hand over a compliance framework the operator can actually run.
Section 02 · Operating principles
Four things we will not do.
No template AML.
Controls are written to the actual transaction flow. Regulators notice the difference. So do banks.
No handover without an operator.
Every file has a named senior. Junior associates do not run regulator dialogue.
No mandate without delivery discipline.
We decline work outside our licence families or risk appetite. Work we accept is scoped against written deliverables, dependencies and assumptions.
Section 03 · Selected case patterns
Representative engagement patterns.
Six anonymised file patterns. Actual client details and locations remain under NDA. Timings are historical indicators measured from kick-off to a material regulator milestone or first approval where applicable. They are not guarantees.
Payments · EMI / PI~8 months
E-money institution track
Payment accounts, card programme readiness and merchant settlement model.
Payment accounts, card programme readiness and merchant settlement model prepared alongside the application pack.
EMIPICards
Crypto · VASP / CASP~11 months
Digital-asset exchange track
Exchange and custody perimeter mapped, governance evidence prepared.
Exchange and custody perimeter mapped, governance evidence prepared, and AML controls linked to wallet and transaction flow.
VASPCASPCustody
Payments · Remittance~14 months
Payment institution file
Cross-border payment flows and safeguarding evidence assembled before filing.
Cross-border payment flows, safeguarding approach, agent or partner model and bank-readiness evidence assembled before filing.
PIRemittanceSafeguarding
Corporate · Banking~5 months
Operating company + banking
Governance pack, account-opening evidence and renewal calendar prepared.
Corporate vehicle, governance pack, account-opening evidence and renewal calendar prepared for a regulated operating business.
CorporateBankingRenewal
UK · FCA~11 months
UK payment platform
United Kingdom · Authorised Payment Institution
Multi-currency settlement rails prepared and tested ahead of FCA Part 4A authorisation.
APIFCASettlement
AML · Money services~6 months
Money-services file
Ownership file, source-of-funds narrative and compliance framework prepared.
Registration or application evidence, ownership file, source-of-funds narrative and compliance framework prepared for supervisory review.
AMLKYCOwnership file
Section 04 · Expertise
Six industries we run in.
We work where the regulatory perimeter is real. Each industry has a different filing logic, banking profile and supervisor temperament — we keep teams who specialise in each.
i · 01EMI · PI · MSB
Fintech
Payment accounts, e-money, FX and remittance models. The core of what we file — most engagements either start here or pass through it.
Most filed · 2024
i · 02PSP · Merchant
Payment services
Payment processing, merchant acquiring and PSP-grade compliance — built so the platform scales without hitting an early supervisor wall.
Acquiring · Settlement
i · 03VASP · CASP · DLT
Crypto & digital assets
Exchange, custody, stablecoin issuance and brokerage under applicable digital-asset regimes, with AML, governance and operational controls scoped around the actual transaction flow.
Exchange · Custody · DLT
i · 04Banks · Trust
Banking & wealth
Specialised banks, neobanks, trust companies and portfolio management — where capital, governance and reporting must hold up under direct supervision.
Specialised bank · Trust
i · 05Dealer · Forex
Brokerage & securities
Investment dealer, market maker, advisory and AIF setups. Selected licensing routes only — we file where supervision is well-defined.
Cat. 1–4 · AIF
i · 06iGaming · Sports
Gaming & gambling
Operator and B2B licences in selected licensing routes, with the payments stack scoped alongside the gaming permit.
Operator · B2B · Payments
Section 05 · How we staff
Senior-led delivery. Not pyramid teams.
Every engagement is led by a senior who has delivered the same authorisation route at least once before. Below is the operating shape of a SKY7 file — the cast, not the titles.
Engagement partner
Owns the regulator relationship and the timeline. Single point of accountability from kick-off through the application process.
1 per file · Always senior
Compliance architect
Designs the AML / risk framework against the actual transaction flow — and writes the policies the operator inherits at handover.
1 per file · Sector specialist
Banking & ops
Runs bank account openings and payment partner introductions in parallel with the licence filing — so launch is not gated on banking.
Shared across files · By route
Section 06 · Operating model
Files run from the UK. Delivery is scoped route by route.
- UK operating baseSKY7 Fintech Solutions Ltd is incorporated in England and Wales, with its registered office in London.
- Regulatory mappingLicence category, application path, ownership and control expectations, substance requirements and regulator-facing evidence.
- Application fileDocument pack, governance narrative, AML controls, fit-and-proper materials and response handling.
- Banking and payment readinessProvider fit, onboarding evidence, operating controls and launch dependencies.
- Local supportUsed where a specific engagement requires qualified local input under written engagement documents.
- Post-approval setupCompliance framework, reporting cadence, renewal calendar and operator handover.
Start an application
Tell us what you're building.
We respond with a licence-route shortlist, a working timeline and a fixed price. Timelines and deliverables remain indicative until confirmed in written engagement documents. Contact route: sky7.legal. No templates, no generic decks.
- [email protected]
- Registered office
- 128 City Road, London EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom
- Response time
- Working day, every day.