The Luxembourg Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF) approved Pingpong’s switch from “payment institution” to “electronic money institution”, Pingpong said on 2 December.

The authorisation “will strengthen our existing services which can support customers on different marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay and Walmart and grant us the flexibility to broaden our business model to beyond e-commerce platforms,” Nina Wang, co-founder and chief business officer, said in the announcement.

“With this licence, the company will be able to provide a secure electronic wallet and access to a host of new services,” the startup stated.

Payment institutions can handle electronic money transactions and currency conversations, while electronic money institutions can additionally issue digital currency (e-money) and grant certain types of loans, per Luxembourg for Finance.

According to the CSSF’s website, the EMI authorisation was granted on 23 October 2020.

The regulator had previously granted Pingpong a payment institution licence in August 2017. At the time, it was “the first Chinese fintech company to establish European offices in the country,” per pymnts.com. In June 2019, Pingpong said it would “invest more than €100 million in Luxembourg in the coming years,” per Techcrunch. The company is reportedly valued at around $1.5bn, per site pymnts.com.

Pingpong is now headquartered in Silicon Valley and has operations in Hangzhou, Hong Kong, New York and in Japan. Pingpong’s Luxembourg offices are located in the House of Startups.