CENTROlink

Overview

Note on classification. This entry was originally bucketed as a QR standard, but centrolink is not a QR-symbol standard — it is a SEPA cross-border gateway. Reclassified as SEPA Gateway. The wiki shows no playground because there is no QR payload to encode; the slug is retained to avoid breaking incoming links.

CENTROlink is the payment system operated by the Bank of Lithuania (Lietuvos bankas) — a SEPA gateway that has become one of Europe's most strategically important payment-infrastructure platforms for fintechs and EMIs [1, 3]. Launched ~2015, CENTROlink provides direct SEPA-payment-network access to all payment service providers licensed within the EEA — including banks, specialised banks, credit unions, electronic money institutions (EMIs), and payment institutions (PIs) — through accounts held directly at the Bank of Lithuania [3]. This central-bank-backed direct SEPA access is the structural innovation that made Lithuania the EU's leading EMI hub by the late 2010s.

By 2023, CENTROlink processed 228.3 million payments totalling EUR 456 billion — a 10× increase since 2018 LT. The platform now connects >200 financial institutions from 20+ countries, with >140 active participants. Critically, 55 % of all CENTROlink transactions are instant payments — making CENTROlink one of the most instant-payment-saturated rails in Europe [2]. The fintech-friendly model has attracted high-profile EMIs including Revolut, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Paysera, and many others to license in Lithuania specifically to access CENTROlink — turning Lithuania into a disproportionately-influential country in European fintech.

History

Background — pre-CENTROlink Lithuanian payment landscape LT:

• Bank of Lithuania (Lietuvos bankas) — central bank of the Republic of Lithuania.
• Lithuania joined the eurozone 1 January 2015.
• Pre-CENTROlink: limited Lithuanian SEPA participation; EMIs needed bank intermediation for euro-area payment access.

~2015 — CENTROlink launches [1, 3]:

• Bank of Lithuania launches CENTROlink shortly after euro adoption.
• Designed as a direct SEPA gateway for EEA-licensed PSPs.

~2017+ — EMI hub effect [3]:

• Lithuanian EMI licensing + CENTROlink direct SEPA access proved attractive for fintech.
• Revolut chose Lithuania for its EU banking licence (granted 2018).
• Wise (TransferWise), Paysera, Nordigen, and many others followed.
• Lithuania became the second-most-popular EU jurisdiction for EMI licensing (after Ireland).

~2018 — Instant payments launch in CENTROlink [2]:

• CENTROlink integrates SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst).
• Instant payments operational across CENTROlink's footprint.

2018-2023 — 10× transaction-volume growth [3]:

• 2018: ~25M transactions baseline.
• 2023: 228.3M transactions / EUR 456B total.
• +10× growth over 5 years.

Instant-payment share [2]:

• By 2023, 55 % of CENTROlink transactions are instant payments.
• Among the highest instant-payment shares of any European clearing system.

>200 financial institutions from 20+ countries [3]:

• CENTROlink's reach extends beyond Lithuania — financial institutions from across the EEA + select non-EEA countries connect via CENTROlink for SEPA access.

Technical specification

CENTROlink is Bank-of-Lithuania-operated SEPA gateway with direct PSP access [1, 3]:

Layer	Description
Operator	Bank of Lithuania (Lietuvos bankas)
Function	SEPA payment gateway for EEA-licensed PSPs
Settlement	Accounts held at Bank of Lithuania (central-bank money)
Participants	Banks, specialised banks, credit unions, EMIs, PIs — all EEA-licensed PSP types
Instant payments	SCT Inst (since ~2018) — 55 % of all CENTROlink volume in 2023
Currency	EUR
Reach	EU SEPA scheme (SEPA Credit Transfer, SCT Inst, SEPA Direct Debit)
Volume (2023)	228.3M transactions / EUR 456B
Participants (2023)	200+ FIs from 20+ countries; 140+ active

Structural distinction: central-bank-account-based settlement [3]:

• CENTROlink participants hold accounts at the Bank of Lithuania.
• Payments settle in central-bank money — same risk profile as TARGET2 settlement.
• This removes the need for a commercial bank correspondent — EMIs/PIs settle directly in central-bank money.

Fintech advantage [3]:

• Most European central-bank payment systems serve only traditional banks.
• CENTROlink's structural innovation: direct access for EMIs and PIs — fintechs don't need a bank intermediary for SEPA settlement.
• Reduces processing time and operational cost vs commercial-bank-intermediated SEPA access.

SCT Inst share [2]:

• 55 % instant in 2023 — among the highest in Europe.
• Reflects fintech participants' preference for instant settlement.

Use cases

SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) [3]: Conventional batched SEPA euro transfers.

SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) [2]: 10-second euro transfers, 24/7/365.

SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) [3]: Direct-debit collections.

Fintech / EMI direct SEPA access [3]: Revolut, Wise, Paysera, Nordigen, and 130+ other PSPs use CENTROlink as primary SEPA settlement rail.

Pan-European reach [3]: SEPA scheme reaches 36+ countries; CENTROlink participants can send/receive to/from any SEPA-reachable account.

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) [3]: CENTROlink underpins many BaaS providers' euro-currency offerings.

Implementations & ecosystem

Operator: Bank of Lithuania (Lietuvos bankas) — central bank.

Participants (200+ FIs from 20+ countries) include:

• Major Lithuanian banks: Swedbank, SEB, Luminor Bank.
• Major Lithuanian-licensed EMIs: Revolut, Paysera, Bankera, Mistertango.
• Wise (TransferWise).
• Nordigen.
• Numerous other EEA-licensed PSPs.

Bank of Lithuania's broader fintech-hub strategy:

• CENTROlink + favourable EMI licensing → Lithuania as EU fintech hub.
• Promoted via the Bank of Lithuania's fintech-friendly regulatory positioning under Governor Vitas Vasiliauskas (2017-2023).

No public open-source SDK — CENTROlink integration via Bank of Lithuania APIs.

Fun facts

• The reason Revolut chose Lithuania for its EU banking licence: CENTROlink's direct SEPA access + favourable Lithuanian EMI/banking licensing was a major factor in Revolut's decision to obtain its EU banking licence in Lithuania (2018) — making Lithuania a structurally outsized influence on European fintech.
• 10× transaction growth 2018-2023: Few European payment systems have grown this fast. Reflects the fintech-as-CENTROlink-customer flywheel.
• 55 % instant payment share: Among the highest in Europe — far above eurozone averages. Fintech participants drive instant adoption.
• Direct central-bank-account-money settlement for EMIs: A structural innovation that few other EU central banks have replicated at this scale. Most central-bank payment systems serve banks-only.
• 200+ FIs from 20+ countries: CENTROlink's reach extends far beyond Lithuania — making it a pan-European payment-infrastructure platform headquartered in Lithuania.
• EUR 456 billion in 2023: Significant absolute volume — comparable to or exceeding several larger EU central-bank-operated SEPA gateways.
• The competitive structural advantage: CENTROlink is one of the few central-bank-operated SEPA gateways that actively welcomes fintech direct access — most peers either limit to traditional banks or impose substantial barriers to entry. The fintech-friendly stance is a deliberate Bank of Lithuania policy choice.
• Lithuania's EMI count: ~80+ licensed EMIs in Lithuania (one of the highest in EU) — many drawn by CENTROlink access.
• Disproportionate influence: A country of ~2.8M people has become one of the most structurally important nodes in European fintech infrastructure — largely because of CENTROlink + favourable licensing.

Comparison

Feature	CENTROlink (LT)	TIPS (EU)	RT1 (EBA Clearing)	fast (SG)	UK Faster Payments
Operator	Bank of Lithuania	Eurosystem	EBA Clearing (private)	SCHA (banks)	Pay.UK
Direct fintech/EMI access	Yes (broad)	Yes (since 2024+)	Limited	Yes (since 2020)	Limited (sponsor model)
Instant share	55 % (2023)	n/a	High	n/a	n/a
2023 volume	228.3M txns / EUR 456B	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Year launched	~2015	Nov 2018	2017	Mar 2014	2008
Settlement money	Central-bank money (Bank of Lithuania)	Central-bank (Eurosystem)	Commercial-bank	MEPS+ (SG RTGS)	Bank-of-England

Closest peer: TIPS (Eurosystem) — both are central-bank-operated euro-instant rails with direct PSP access. CENTROlink is older and has higher fintech penetration; TIPS has eurozone-wide reach.

Structural distinction: CENTROlink is the most fintech-accessible major euro-area payment infrastructure — its central-bank-money settlement for EMIs is the unique structural feature.

Status

Active, fastest-growing European SEPA gateway [1, 3]:

• Bank of Lithuania operator.
• 228.3M transactions / EUR 456B in 2023.
• +10× growth 2018-2023.
• 55 % instant-payment share (2023).
• 200+ financial institutions from 20+ countries.
• 140+ active participants.

Outlook: Continued growth as European fintech ecosystem expands; deeper SCT Inst penetration toward eurozone target of 100 %; possible role in BIS Project Nexus and broader cross-border interconnection initiatives; Lithuania likely to retain its outsized European fintech-hub influence as long as CENTROlink remains the preferred fintech-SEPA access path.

Sources

• 1 CENTROlink — Bank of Lithuania
• 2 CENTROlink instant-payments era — Bank of Lithuania
• 3 SEPA via CENTROlink — Advapay
• [lt-cro] reports/countries/LT-lithuania.md

Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):

• LT — LT-lithuania.md