Ohio Money Transmitter Laws

Who needs to register?

Under Ohio statute, regardless of the location of a person, its facilities, or its agent, if a person receives, directly or indirectly and by any means, money or its equivalent for transmission from a person located in Ohio, a money transmitter license is required.

Who is the regulator?

Ohio Division of Financial Institutions

What are the money transmitter license requirements?

In Ohio, applicants seeking to obtain a money transmitter license may be required to provide the following documentation and fees:

• Must be a legally established business entity that is capitalized separately and distinctly from every other legal entity and qualified to do business in the state
• Identifying Information
• Principal and secondary contact for licensing and compliance matters
• Application must be notarized
• Company resolution and certification
• Must schedule a pre-filing meeting prior to filing a money transmitter application
• Disclosure Form
• Declaration Regarding Material Assistance to a Terrorist Organization Form
• Acknowledgement letter regarding FinCEN  registration as a Money Services Business
• Secretary of State Authorization to file form
• Description of business of the applicant and a summary of its history, including details of prior unlicensed transmission activities
• Business activities outside the transmission of money and the businesses of any subsidiaries or affiliates
• Corporations and LLCs: contact information of directors, executive officers, and 25% equitable owners
• GP, LLP, Associations: contact information of partners or members
• Articles of incorporation/organization or partnership agreement
• Foreign companies: Authorization by Ohio Secretary of State to do business in Ohio
• Disclosure of any denials, revocations, suspensions, refusals to renew of any type of licenses, fines by any state or federal authority; the same for any affiliated businesses
• Five year litigation history including court, case name, case number, and a brief summary and copy of final disposition
• List of planned office or delegate locations in Ohio including identifying information, a sample authorized delegate contract, and policy and description of delegate criminal history screening process
• Five year history and pending state and federal law violations by applicant, directors, executive officers, and delegates including any other outstanding regulatory issues
• Business plan: description of scope of Ohio business; management organizational chart including officers responsible for Ohio operations; three years of revenue, expense, and profit projections based on listing of fees and transmission volumes including any assumptions used to reach projections
• CPA audited, unconsolidated financial statements for the most recent fiscal year: balance sheet, income statement, statement of retained earnings and statement of cash flows, include previous two years if available
• Audited financial statements for the most recent two years of any investment company, corporation, LLC, or GP that owns 25% or more of the applicant
• Written copy of corporate anti-money laundering policy that complies with BSA, OFAC, and PATRIOT Act
• Compliance: Written description of internal controls to ensure compliance; Name and resume of independent compliance officer (must be experienced and knowledgeable about AML programs and principles); Independent audit and review of AML by a company experienced in doing MSB audits (can’t be more than 18 months old)
•  Detailed description of how the applicant will aggregate transactions for customers who conduct multiple transactions within a thirty day period and explain how this will be completed in multiple offices, what kind of aggregation reports are produced and how often, and identifying the employee who will monitor the aggregation report activity
• Submit a detailed description of how the applicant proposes to comply with the laws administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and specifically how the applicant will screen individuals through the lists of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDNs), providing additional information depending on whether the system is automated or manual
• DMA Form
• Disclosure Form for directors, president, treasurer, secretary, each senior officer responsible for licensee’s business, partner, and controlling person disclosing: identifying information, including social security number, residences for the last ten years, discharges or requests to resign, personal licensing and regulatory history, arrests and connection with organizations convicted of felonies or misdemeanors, adverse judgments and connections with organizations subject to judgments for conversion, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, fraud, misfeasance or malfeasance, or breach of fiduciary duty, and bankruptcy history and connections to organizations who have filed
• Criminal background check: fingerprints and statewide criminal history report from home state’s law enforcement department
• Minimum net worth requirement of $500,000
• Application fee of $6,000

What are the general bonding requirements?

While bonding requirements for Ohio are determined upon the commissioner’s discretion, they fall somewhere between $300,00 and $2,000,000.

Additional resources:

Ohio Transmitters of Money Act