STATE STATUTES - MONEY TRANSMISSION

Georgia

Table of Contents

2021 Georgia Code
Title 7 – Banking and Finance
Chapter 1 – Financial Institutions
Article 4 – Sale of Payment Instruments
§ 7-1-680. Definitions

Universal Citation: GA Code § 7-1-680 (2021)

As used in this article, the term: 

  1. “Authorized agent” means a person designated by a licensee pursuant to Code Section 7-1-683.1 to engage in money transmission, the sale of payment instruments, or the issuance of payment instruments. 
  2. “Check” means any check, money order, draft, or negotiable demand instrument. 
  3. “Closed-loop transaction” means a transaction where the value or credit is primarily intended to be redeemed for a limited universe of goods, intangibles, services, or other items provided by the issuer of the payment instrument, its affiliates or agents, or others involved in the transaction functionally related to the issuer or its affiliates or agents. 
  4. “Commissioner” means the commissioner of banking and finance. 
  5. “Control,” “controlling,” “controlled by,” or “under common control with” means the direct or indirect possession of power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person. 
  6. “Covered employee” means any employee of a licensee or an authorized agent engaged in any function related to the selling of payment instruments or money transmission. 
  7. “Department” means the Department of Banking and Finance. 
  8. “Executive officer” means the chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, each vice president with responsibility involving policy-making functions for a significant aspect of a person’s business, secretary, treasurer, or any other person performing similar managerial or supervisory functions with respect to any organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated. 
  9. “Individual” means a natural person. 
  10. “Licensee” means a person, including, but not limited to, a money transmitter and a payment instrument seller, duly licensed by the department pursuant to this article. 
  11. “Misrepresent” means to make a false statement of a substantive fact. The term may also mean to engage in any conduct which leads to a false belief which is material to the transaction. 
  12. “Monetary value” means a medium of exchange, whether or not redeemable in money. 
  13. “Money transmission,” “transmit money,” or “transmission of money” means engaging in the business of receiving money or monetary value for transmission or transmitting money or monetary value within the United States or to locations abroad by any and all means, including, but not limited to, an order, wire, facsimile, or electronic transfer. The term does not include closed-loop transactions. 
  14. “Money transmitter” means a person licensed under this article to transmit money. 
  15. “Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry” means a licensing system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators for the licensing and registration of certain persons engaged in nondepository activities. 
  16. “Open-loop transaction” means a transaction using a payment instrument with stored value to redeem for goods or services at any location that accepts such payment instrument. 
  17. “Payment instrument” means any instrument, order, or device for the payment or transmission of money or monetary value, whether or not it is a negotiable instrument under the terms of Article 3 of Title 11, relating to negotiable instruments. The term includes, but is not limited to, checks, money orders, drafts, stored value cards, and open-loop transactions. The term does not include closed-loop transactions, credit card vouchers, letters of credit, or any instrument that is redeemable by the issuer only in specific goods or services of the issuer. 
  18. “Payment instrument holder” means a person that has purchased a payment instrument from a payment instrument seller or who has had monetary value transmitted by a money transmitter. 
  19. “Payment instrument issuer” or “payment instrument seller” means a person licensed under this article to engage in the issuance or sales of payment instruments. 
  20. “Person” means any individual, sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, trust, or any other group of individuals, however organized. 
  21. “Sale” and “selling” mean the passing of title from the payment instrument seller or the payment instrument seller’s agent to a payment instrument holder or remitter or an agreement to transfer money or monetary value. 
  22. “Sale of payment instruments,” “selling of payment instruments,” or “issuance of payment instruments” means the creation, issuance, or sale of a payment instrument that is redeemable in cash or monetary value. 
  23. “Signed” shall have the same meaning as provided in Code Section 11-1-201. 
  24. “Ultimate equitable owner” means a person that: 
    1. Owns, directly or indirectly, a 10 percent or more interest in a corporation or any other form of business organization; 
    2. Owns, directly or indirectly, 10 percent or more of the voting shares of any corporation or any other form of business organization; or 
    3. Exerts control, directly or indirectly, over a corporation or any other form of business organization, regardless of whether such person owns or controls such interest through one or more natural persons or one or more proxies, powers of attorney, nominees, corporations, associations, limited liability companies, partnerships, trusts, joint stock companies, other entities or devices, or any combination thereof. 
  25. “Unique identifier” means a number or other identifier assigned by protocols established by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry. 
  26. “Virtual currency” means a digital representation of monetary value that does not have legal tender status as recognized by the United States government. The term does not include the software or protocols governing the transfer of the digital representation of monetary value. The term also does not include units of value that are issued in an affinity or rewards program and that cannot be redeemed for money or virtual currencies. Neither does the term include an affinity or rewards program tied to a credit, debit, or prepaid card that awards points for purchases or other transactions, which points can be redeemed for dollar denominated credit to a checking, credit card, or prepaid account, or for a gift card, goods, travel, or services. 

(Code 1981, §7-1-680, enacted by Ga. L. 2014, p. 251, § 1/HB 982; Ga. L. 2015, p. 996, § 3C-2/SB 65; Ga. L. 2016, p. 390, § 1-6/HB 811; Ga. L. 2020, p. 493, § 7/SB 429.) 

The 2020 amendment, effective July 29, 2020, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry” for “Nation-wide Multistate Licensing System and Registry” in paragraphs (15) and (25). 

Editor’s notes. 

– Ga. L. 2015, p. 996, § 1-1/SB 65, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: 

“(a) This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Debtor Creditor Uniform Law Modernization Act of 2015.’ 

“(b) To promote consistency among the states, it is the intent of the General Assembly to modernize certain existing uniform laws promulgated by the Uniform Law Commission affecting debtor and creditor rights, responsibilities, and relationships and other federally recognized laws affecting such rights, responsibilities, and relationships.”

  • 7-1-681. Licensing Requirements; Engagement in Sale of Payment Instruments or Money Transmission Defined; Liabilities

Universal Citation: GA Code § 7-1-681 (2020)

  1. Pursuant to this article, the department may license a person to engage in the sale of payment instruments or the transmission of money. 
  2. A license for the sale of payment instruments authorizes the licensee to sell payment instruments and to transmit money. 
  3. A license for the transmission of money authorizes the licensee to transmit money. 
  4. No person, regardless of the location of such person, its facilities, or its agents, shall engage in the sale of payment instruments or money transmission without having first obtained a license authorizing such activity under this article. This prohibition applies whether or not a person utilizes a branch, subsidiary, affiliate, or agent in this state. A person is deemed to be engaged in the sale of payment instruments or money transmission if the person advertises any of those services, provides any of those services with or without compensation, solicits to provide any of those services, or holds itself out as providing any of those services to or from this state, even if the person has no physical presence in this state. 
  5. Every person that directly or indirectly controls another that violates subsection (d) of this Code section, including but not limited to each general partner, executive officer, joint venture, ultimate equitable owner, or director of such person, and every person occupying a similar status or performing similar functions as such person violates with and to the same extent as such person. Any person that directly or indirectly controls a person that violates subsection (d) of this Code section may avoid liability if such person sustains the burden of proof that the person did not know and, in the exercise of reasonable care, could not have known of the existence of the facts by reason of which the original violation is alleged to exist.
  • 7-1-682. Exemption From Licensing Requirements

Universal Citation: GA Code § 7-1-682 (2020)

The requirement for licensure set forth in this article shall not apply to: 

  1. Any state or federally chartered bank, trust company, credit union, savings and loan association, or savings bank with deposits that are federally insured; 
  2. Any authorized agent of a licensee; 
  3. The United States Postal Service; 
  4. A state or federal governmental department, agency, authority, or instrumentality and its authorized agents; 
  5. Any foreign bank that establishes a federal branch pursuant to the International Bank Act, 12 U.S.C. Section 3102; 
  6. A wholly owned subsidiary of a state or federally chartered bank, trust company, credit union, savings and loan association, or savings bank with deposits that are federally insured; 
  7. A registered futures commission merchant under the federal commodities laws to the extent of its operation as such a futures commission merchant; 
  8. A person that provides clearance or settlement services pursuant to a registration as a clearing agency or an exemption from such registration granted under the federal securities laws to the extent of its operation as such a provider; 
  9. An operator of a payment system to the extent that it provides processing, clearing, or settlement services, between or among persons exempted by this Code section, in connection with wire transfers, credit card transactions, debit card transactions, stored value transactions, automated clearing house transfers, or similar fund transfers; 
  10. A person registered as a securities broker-dealer under federal or state securities laws to the extent of its operation as such a broker-dealer; or 
  11. An individual employed by a licensee or any person exempted from the licensing requirements of this article when acting within the scope of employment and under the supervision of the licensee or exempted person as an employee and not as an independent contractor.
  • 7-1-683. Requirements for Licensure; Fees; Rules and Regulations

Universal Citation: GA Code § 7-1-683 (2020)

  1. Each applicant for a license under this article shall: 
    1. Submit an application in writing, which is made under oath and in such form as the department may prescribe; 
    2. Furnish to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry the following information: 
      1. The legal name and principal office address of the person applying for the license; 
      2. The name, residence, and business address of each director, ultimate equitable owner, and executive officer; 
      3. If the applicant has one or more branches or other locations, including but not limited to locations operated by an authorized agent, at or through which the applicant proposes to engage in the sale of payment instruments or money transmission within this state, the complete address of each such location; and 
      4. The location where its initial registered office will be located in this state, if any; and 
    3. Submit such other data, financial statements, and pertinent information as the department may require with respect to the applicant, its directors, trustees, officers, members, ultimate equitable owners, subsidiaries, affiliates, or agents. 
  2. The application for license shall be filed together with: 
    1. An investigation and supervision fee established by the department through rule or regulation which shall not be refundable but which, if the license is granted, shall satisfy the fee requirement for the first licensed year or the remaining part thereof; 
    2. Items required by other provisions of this article, including but not limited to Code Sections 7-1-683.2 and 7-1-684; and 
    3. Other information as may be required by the department. 
  3. Where a person engages only in the sale of payment instruments issued by another person which is primarily obligated for payment of the payment instrument and the seller is a wholly owned subsidiary of or is wholly owned by the sole shareholder of the issuer, the department may grant a single license naming both the seller and issuer as joint licensees. In such cases, only a single license fee shall be collected and only one corporate surety bond, pursuant to Code Section 7-1-683.2, shall be required where such bond names both the seller and issuer. 
  4. The department shall pay all fees received from licensees and applicants related to applications, licenses, and renewals to the Office of the State Treasurer; provided, however, that the department may net such fees to recover the cost of participation in the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry. 
  5. The department shall enact rules and regulations regarding the time frame by which all persons must submit an original or renewal application for licensure through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry.