Restricted businesses and clients.
The industries, business types and countries Olympus does not serve, or serves only after enhanced due diligence. This is the Olympus eligibility policy for Olympus Pay Limited.
Source: Olympus eligibility policy. Botswana-specific prohibited activities are in the Olympus Terms and Conditions and on the Botswana page.
1. Prohibited industries.
Olympus does not deal with persons, who are directly or indirectly involved in illegal or unregulated businesses, including, but not limited to:
- Arms Trade and defense
- Adult entertainment and pornography
- Physically present Adult Services
- Synthetic stimulants
- Unofficial charities
- Businesses violating intellectual property rights
- Illegal Drugs; Illegal Sale of Prescription Drugs; Illegal sale or distribution of recreational drugs
- Illegal, unregulated, unlicensed, or unauthorised gambling or gaming firms (remote and non-remote)
- Forex robots
- Political or Religious organizations
- Replicas
- Unregulated or unlicensed money service businesses, including currency exchange and lending
- Trafficking of cultural artifacts and/or wildlife or protected species
- Human Trafficking, modern slavery, and any other illegal activities.
- Shell formations or pose any sign of a shell formations
- MLM (attracting new members basis)
- Offenders of environmental regulations and perpetrators of environmental crime
- Non-EU Forex, gambling or betting
2. Prohibited business types.
- 1. Intermediary companies acting between, for example, manufacturers and the end users (a.k.a. trading companies that only serves as a middleman). Usually registered in offshore territories but these can also be, for example, European Union companies which serve the same purpose.
- 2. Shell companies that can be identified based on the below criteria (definition) – a legal person characterized by one or several of the following indications:
- 2.1. no affiliation of a legal person to an actual economic activity or the operation of a legal person generates a minor economic value or no economic value at all, and there is no documentary information that would prove the contrary.
- 2.2. laws and regulations of the country where the legal person is registered do not provide for an obligation to prepare and submit financial statements for its activities to the supervisory authorities of the relevant country, including annual financial statements.
- 2.3. the legal person has no place (premises) for the performance of economic activity in the country where the relevant legal person is registered.
3. Restricted businesses.
Enhanced due diligence is required.
- Gambling/gaming/betting activities
- Forex brokers/ forex consulting/advisers
- Intermediary services in real estate trading
- Travel/booking/ticket agencies
- Cash intensive services such as nail bars/salons, scrap metal dealers, and cash processing/courier services.
- Crowdfunding platforms
- Charities, non-profit organisations, foundations, and cultural associations
- Money or value transfer service businesses(including check cashing and prepaid cards) or alternative banking platforms
- Extractive services, such as mining or crude oil/gas
- Lawful recreational drugs/medicinal marijuana distributors
- The professional football sector
- General trading companies operating in a FreeTrade Zone (FTZ)
- High Value Dealers, such as jewelry and precious metals dealers including those that purchase metals from pawn brokers and other secondary sources, arts and antiques markets, auctioneers, builders, and motor vehicle and boats dealers, including parts.
- Tobacco industry
- Payroll services
- Travel and tour companies
- Trust Company Service Providers
- Embassies or consulates
- Multi-level marketing services or commission-based sales
4. Elevated-risk activities.
Activities Olympus has determined to carry elevated risk.
- Consultancy services
- Digital marketing
- Web development
- Trainings, online courses
- Financial services, loans/money lending businesses
- Production and distribution of alcoholic beverages
- Telecommunication services/computer network or information services/data storage, sharing services
- Import/export and cross-border logistics companies
- IT services that are not related to IT hardware manufacturing and trading
- Online stores and marketplaces
General rules.
Rule 1
No export to Russia and Belarus of any commodity the customs code of which falls into the category of military or dual-use goods or commodity listed in the respective sanctions lists:
Rule 2
A high-risk transaction fee may be applied to payments to or from these countries:
Countries where a high-risk transaction fee may apply 153 countries
- Albania (ALB)
- Algeria (DZA)
- American Samoa (ASM)
- Anguilla (AIA)
- Antigua and Barbuda (ATG)
- Armenia (ARM)
- Aruba (ABW)
- Azerbaijan (AZE)
- Bahamas (BHS)
- Barbados (BRB)
- Belarus (BLR)
- Belize (BLZ)
- Benin (BEN)
- Bermuda (BMU)
- Bolivia (BOL)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)
- Bouvet Island (BVT)
- British Indian Ocean Territory (IOT)
- Brunei (BRN)
- Burkina Faso (BFA)
- Burundi (BDI)
- Cambodia (KHM)
- Cameroon (CMR)
- Cape Verde (CPV)
- Cayman Islands (CYM)
- Central African Republic (CAF)
- Chad (TCD)
- China (CHN)
- Christmas Island (CXR)
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CCK)
- Colombia (COL)
- Congo (COG)
- Cook Islands (COK)
- Costa Rica (CRI)
- Cote D'Ivoire (CIV)
- Cuba (CUB)
- Cyprus (CYP)
- Djibouti (DJI)
- Dominica (DMA)
- Dominican Republic (DOM)
- Ecuador (ECU)
- El Salvador (SLV)
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (FLK)
- Fiji (FJI)
- French Guiana (GUF)
- French Polynesia (PYF)
- French Southern Territories (ATF)
- Gabon (GAB)
- Gambia (GMB)
- Georgia (GEO)
- Ghana (GHA)
- Gibraltar (GIB)
- Grenada (GRD)
- Guadeloupe (GLP)
- Guam (GUM)
- Guatemala (GTM)
- Guinea (GIN)
- Guinea-Bissau (GNB)
- Guyana (GUY)
- Haiti (HTI)
- Heard Island and Mc Donald Islands (HMD)
- Honduras (HND)
- Iran (IRN)
- Iraq (IRQ)
- Israel (ISR)
- Jamaica (JAM)
- Jordan (JOR)
- Kazakhstan (KAZ)
- Kiribati (KIR)
- Korea, North (PRK)
- Kuwait (KWT)
- Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)
- Laos (LAO)
- Lebanon (LBN)
- Liberia (LBR)
- Libya (LBY)
- Macedonia (MKD)
- Malaysia (MYS)
- Maldives (MDV)
- Mali (MLI)
- Marshall Islands (MHL)
- Martinique (MTQ)
- Mauritania (MRT)
- Mayotte (MYT)
- Micronesia (FSM)
- Montserrat (MSR)
- Morocco (MAR)
- Myanmar (MMR)
- Nauru (NRU)
- Nepal (NPL)
- Netherlands Antilles (ANT)
- New Caledonia (NCL)
- Nicaragua (NIC)
- Niger (NER)
- Nigeria (NGA)
- Niue (NIU)
- Norfolk Island (NFK)
- Northern Mariana Islands (MNP)
- Oman (OMN)
- Pakistan (PAK)
- Palau (PLW)
- Panama (PAN)
- Papua new Guinea (PNG)
- Philippines (PHL)
- Pitcairn (PCN)
- Puerto Rico (PRI)
- Qatar (QAT)
- Reunion (REU)
- Russia (RUS)
- Rwanda (RWA)
- Saint Helena (SHN)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis (KNA)
- Saint Lucia (LCA)
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon (SPM)
- Saint Vincent and The Grenadines (VCT)
- Samoa (WSM)
- Sao Tome and Principe (STP)
- Senegal (SEN)
- Sierra Leone (SLE)
- Solomon Islands (SLB)
- Somalia (SOM)
- South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands (SGS)
- Sudan (SDN)
- Suriname (SUR)
- Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (SJM)
- Syria (SYR)
- Tajikistan (TJK)
- Thailand (THA)
- Timor-Leste (TLS)
- Togo (TGO)
- Tokelau (TKL)
- Tonga (TON)
- Trinidad And Tobago (TTO)
- Tunisia (TUN)
- Turkey (TUR)
- Turkmenistan (TKM)
- Turks and Caicos Islands (TCA)
- Tuvalu (TUV)
- Uganda (UGA)
- Ukraine (UKR)
- United States Minor Outlying Islands (UMI)
- Uzbekistan (UZB)
- Vanuatu (VUT)
- Venezuela (VEN)
- Vietnam (VNM)
- Virgin Islands (British) (VGB)
- Wallis and Futuna Islands (WLF)
- Western Sahara (ESH)
- Yemen (YEM)
- Afghanistan (AFG)
- Serbia (SRB)
- Curacao (CUW)
- Saint Barthelemy (BLM)
Countries.
Considered high risk
Countries Olympus considers high risk 159 countries
- Albania (ALB)
- Algeria (DZA)
- American Samoa (ASM)
- Andorra (AND)
- Anguilla (AIA)
- Antigua and Barbuda (ATG)
- Argentina (ARG)
- Armenia (ARM)
- Aruba (ABW)
- Azerbaijan (AZE)
- Bahamas (BHS)
- Bahrain (BHR)
- Bangladesh (BGD)
- Barbados (BRB)
- Belize (BLZ)
- Benin (BEN)
- Bermuda (BMU)
- Bolivia (BOL)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)
- Bouvet Island (BVT)
- British Indian Ocean Territory (IOT)
- Brunei (BRN)
- Bulgaria (BGR)
- Burkina Faso (BFA)
- Burundi (BDI)
- Cambodia (KHM)
- Cameroon (CMR)
- Cape Verde (CPV)
- Cayman Islands (CYM)
- Central African Republic (CAF)
- Chad (TCD)
- China (CHN)
- Christmas Island (CXR)
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CCK)
- Colombia (COL)
- Congo (COG)
- Cook Islands (COK)
- Costa Rica (CRI)
- Cote D'Ivoire (CIV)
- Croatia (HRV)
- Djibouti (DJI)
- Dominica (DMA)
- Dominican Republic (DOM)
- Ecuador (ECU)
- El Salvador (SLV)
- Faroe Islands (FRO)
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (FLK)
- Fiji (FJI)
- French Guiana (GUF)
- French Polynesia (PYF)
- French Southern Territories (ATF)
- Gabon (GAB)
- Gambia (GMB)
- Georgia (GEO)
- Ghana (GHA)
- Gibraltar (GIB)
- Grenada (GRD)
- Guadeloupe (GLP)
- Guam (GUM)
- Guatemala (GTM)
- Guinea (GIN)
- Guinea-Bissau (GNB)
- Guyana (GUY)
- Haiti (HTI)
- Heard Island and Mc Donald Islands (HMD)
- Honduras (HND)
- Hong Kong (China) (HKG)
- Indonesia (IDN)
- Iraq (IRQ)
- Israel (ISR)
- Jamaica (JAM)
- Jordan (JOR)
- Kazakhstan (KAZ)
- Kenya (KEN)
- Kiribati (KIR)
- Kuwait (KWT)
- Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)
- Laos (LAO)
- Lebanon (LBN)
- Liberia (LBR)
- Libya (LBY)
- Macau (China) (MAC)
- Macedonia (MKD)
- Malaysia (MYS)
- Maldives (MDV)
- Mali (MLI)
- Marshall Islands (MHL)
- Martinique (MTQ)
- Mauritania (MRT)
- Mayotte (MYT)
- Mexico (MEX)
- Micronesia (FSM)
- Monaco (MCO)
- Montserrat (MSR)
- Morocco (MAR)
- Nauru (NRU)
- Nepal (NPL)
- Netherlands Antilles (ANT)
- New Caledonia (NCL)
- Nicaragua (NIC)
- Niger (NER)
- Nigeria (NGA)
- Niue (NIU)
- Norfolk Island (NFK)
- Northern Mariana Islands (MNP)
- Oman (OMN)
- Pakistan (PAK)
- Palau (PLW)
- Panama (PAN)
- Papua new Guinea (PNG)
- Paraguay (PRY)
- Peru (PER)
- Philippines (PHL)
- Pitcairn (PCN)
- Puerto Rico (PRI)
- Qatar (QAT)
- Reunion (REU)
- Rwanda (RWA)
- Saint Helena (SHN)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis (KNA)
- Saint Lucia (LCA)
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon (SPM)
- Saint Vincent and The Grenadines (VCT)
- Samoa (WSM)
- Sao Tome and Principe (STP)
- Saudi Arabia (SAU)
- Senegal (SEN)
- Sierra Leone (SLE)
- Solomon Islands (SLB)
- Somalia (SOM)
- South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands (SGS)
- Suriname (SUR)
- Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (SJM)
- Tajikistan (TJK)
- Timor-Leste (TLS)
- Togo (TGO)
- Tokelau (TKL)
- Tonga (TON)
- Trinidad And Tobago (TTO)
- Turkey (TUR)
- Turkmenistan (TKM)
- Turks and Caicos Islands (TCA)
- Tuvalu (TUV)
- Uganda (UGA)
- United Arab Emirates (ARE)
- United States Minor Outlying Islands (UMI)
- Uruguay (URY)
- Uzbekistan (UZB)
- Vanuatu (VUT)
- Venezuela (VEN)
- Vietnam (VNM)
- Virgin Islands (British) (VGB)
- Wallis and Futuna Islands (WLF)
- Western Sahara (ESH)
- Yemen (YEM)
- Afghanistan (AFG)
- Serbia (SRB)
- Curacao (CUW)
- Saint Barthelemy (BLM)
No transactions processed
Countries with which Olympus does not process any transactions:
- Belarus (BLR)
- Cuba (CUB)
- Equatorial Guinea (GNQ)
- Eritrea (ERI)
- Ethiopia (ETH)
- Iran (IRN)
- Korea, North (PRK)
- Myanmar (MMR)
- Palestine (PSE)
- Russia (RUS)
- Sri Lanka (LKA)
- Sudan (SDN)
- Syria (SYR)
- Tunisia (TUN)
- Ukraine (UKR)
- Virgin Islands (US) (VIR)
What this means.
Appearing on a restricted or elevated-risk list does not always mean refusal, and being absent from the lists does not guarantee an account. Olympus decides at onboarding and can revisit a decision later. Fees for higher-risk clients are on the higher-risk client fees page.