FRN and EMI Licence Numbers: What They Mean and How to Check One

What a UK Firm Reference Number is, why EU and EEA EMIs have none, the reference format each regulator uses, and how to check any number against the official register.

Short answer: a Firm Reference Number (FRN) is the number the UK Financial Conduct Authority gives every firm on its register. It only exists in the UK. In the EU and EEA there is no FRN: each national regulator publishes its own reference, and the European Banking Authority (EBA) register repeats it. To verify any of them, search the official register yourself and check that the number, the exact legal name and the status all match.

All figures below come from the Licensed EMIs dataset, which is synced daily from the FCA and EBA registers (checked 12 October 2026: 475 UK records and 517 EU/EEA records, including firms that have since closed).

What an FRN is

The FRN is the FCA's identifier for a regulated firm. It is shown on the FCA Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk and stays with the same legal entity for life.

Length: six or seven digits. Of the 475 UK e-money firms in our data, 432 have a six-digit FRN and 43 have a seven-digit FRN. A "seven-digit only" rule, which you will see repeated online, is wrong.
Examples: Wise Payments Limited is FRN 900507 (profile); REMITLY U.K., LTD is FRN 1047222 (profile).
Not a company number. The Companies House registration number is a different number from a different register. A firm quoting only its company number has not shown you that it is authorised.

How to verify a UK FRN

Open register.fca.org.uk directly. Do not use a link sent by the firm.
Search by the FRN, then by the legal name. Both searches should land on the same entry.
Check the legal name matches exactly. Lookalike names are a common trick.
Check the status. "Authorised" means a full authorised EMI; a small EMI is "Registered". Anything else (cancelled, no longer authorised) means the firm cannot issue e-money today.
Check the permissions include issuing electronic money, not only payment services.
Check the website and contact details on the register match the ones you were given.

EU and EEA: there is no FRN

Outside the UK, the number to check is whatever the national regulator publishes for the firm, repeated in the EBA register. The format depends on the country. For several countries (for example France, Belgium, Norway and Czechia) the reference is simply the firm's national company number rather than a separate licence number.

Country	Regulator that licenses EMIs	Usual format	Example	Records in our data
Lithuania	Bank of Lithuania	"LB" + 6 digits	LB000256	102
Netherlands	De Nederlandsche Bank	"R" + 6 digits	R197650	63
Malta	Malta Financial Services Authority	"C" + 5 digits, often written "C 12345"	C36102	43
Cyprus	Central Bank of Cyprus	dotted numbers	115.1.3.61	35
Ireland	Central Bank of Ireland	"C" + 6 digits	C511576	31
France	Autorite de Controle Prudentiel et de Resolution	9 digits	978027159	30
Czechia	Czech National Bank	8 digits	05539323	24
Latvia	Bank of Latvia	11 digits	40203416512	21
Luxembourg	Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier	"W" + 8 digits	W00000016	18
Finland	Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority	8 digits	27433279	16
Italy	Banca d'Italia	11 digits	08342520965	16
Denmark	Danish Financial Supervisory Authority	8 digits	43351206	15
Bulgaria	Bulgarian National Bank	9 digits	175325806	13
Germany	Bundesanstalt fur Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht	6 digits	163815	13
Spain	Banco de Espana	4 digits	6712	12
Norway	Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway	9 digits	980932753	10
Belgium	National Bank of Belgium	10 digits	0400282277	8
Sweden	Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority	5 digits	48003	8
Croatia	Croatian National Bank	"IEN" + 3 digits	IEN116	6
Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority	6 digits	265389	6
Greece	Bank of Greece	9 digits	800509341	4
Hungary	Magyar Nemzeti Bank	8 digits	25353192	4
Iceland	Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland	10 digits	5505121060	4
Estonia	Estonian Financial Supervision Authority	8 digits	14605379	3
Romania	National Bank of Romania	8 digits	22170545	3
Slovenia	Bank of Slovenia	10 digits	8640084000	3
Austria	Austrian Financial Market Authority	6 digits + a letter	501412x	2
Portugal	Banco de Portugal	4 digits	7501	2
Poland	Polish Financial Supervision Authority	10 digits	5272811301	1
Slovakia	National Bank of Slovakia	8 digits	46552723	1

Two points that trip people up:

The regulator is usually the central bank. In the Netherlands it is De Nederlandsche Bank, not the AFM. In Spain it is the Banco de Espana, not the CNMV. In Cyprus it is the Central Bank of Cyprus, not CySEC. A firm citing a securities regulator as its e-money licensor is a warning sign.
One group, several numbers. Every legal entity has its own reference in its own country. Nium, for example, has separate entries in the UK (FRN 901024), the Netherlands (R193543), Malta (C 98342) and Lithuania (LB000420). Check the entity you are actually contracting with.

How to verify an EU or EEA reference

Identify the country of the entity named in your contract or terms, not the brand's head office.
Search the EBA register by name and by reference.
Open the national regulator's own register for the same entity. The national register is the legal source and can be more up to date.
Check the licence type is e-money institution, the status is active, and, if the firm serves you from another country, that your country is listed among its passporting host states.

You can also look the firm up on Licensed EMIs: every profile shows the reference, the regulator, the status and the date we last checked it against the register.

Red flags

The number does not appear on the official register, or appears under a different name.
The firm quotes a number but will not say which regulator issued it.
The format does not fit the country, such as an FRN quoted for an EU entity.
The register shows the firm as cancelled, withdrawn or only registered for payment services.
You are shown a screenshot of a register entry instead of being pointed to the live register.

Frequently asked questions

Do EU EMIs have an FRN?

No. FRN is a UK term. EU and EEA firms have a national reference, and the EBA register lists it.

Can one company have more than one FRN?

No. Each legal entity on the FCA register has one FRN. Groups that operate in several countries hold one reference per legal entity, each issued by that country's regulator.

Is the FRN the same as the Companies House number?

No. They are issued by different bodies for different purposes. Only the FRN shows FCA authorisation.

How quickly do registers update?

Changes usually appear within days of the regulator's decision, but the EBA register can lag national registers by several weeks. If a firm says it was licensed recently and is missing from the EBA register, check the national register.

What should I do if a reference number is fake?

Stop the payment or onboarding, and report it to the regulator the firm claimed (in the UK, through the FCA's ScamSmart service).