VARA reads the business plan, projections, capital position and compliance framework as one case. Most applicants have them prepared separately, by advisers who rarely see each other's work. We build them together, so the numbers support every commitment the policies make.
Scope. Nuvira provides management consultancy. We advise and prepare; we do not provide legal services, act as your Compliance Officer or MLRO, or represent you before VARA. Licensing decisions rest solely with VARA, and no outcome or timeline is guaranteed. Nuvira is not affiliated with or endorsed by VARA.
Five stages, one consistent story.
Readiness
Activities, category and Rulebooks confirmed.
Disclosure Questionnaire
Model, owners, management, funding.
Initial approval
Incorporate and hire. No virtual asset activity yet.
Full application and review
Documents, query rounds, conditions.
Licensed operation
Launch and ongoing supervision.
Where licensing stalls.
The wrong starting point
Activities mapped to the wrong licence category or Rulebook mean rework before VARA has engaged at all.
A file that contradicts itself
Business plan, financial model, capital position and policies written by different hands and never reconciled.
Query rounds that drain management
Information requests come in more than one round, and every answer must stay consistent with what was already submitted.
Approval is not the finish line
Licence conditions, reporting and Rulebook changes have to become part of how the business runs.
Support matched to where you are.
Engage us for one stage or across the whole journey. Scope follows your proposed activities, licence category and the VARA requirements in force at the time.
Pre-application readiness and gap assessment
- Review of business model and proposed activities against VARA's activity categories and the Rulebooks that apply
- Readiness assessment across governance, compliance, staffing, systems and documentation
- Review of business plan, financial model and capital readiness against applicable requirements
- Support preparing the information required for the Initial Disclosure Questionnaire
- Prioritised gap-closure roadmap with owners, dependencies and indicative timelines
A clear view of where you stand, what has to be fixed, and in what order.
Application support and regulatory engagement
- Programme management of the licensing workstream through to grant, coordinating management, finance, technology and other advisers
- Business plan, financial model and projections built to support the application
- Capital and prudential position modelled against applicable Rulebook requirements
- Mapping of Rulebook requirements to your operating model
- Design and review of governance, risk, AML/CFT and customer due diligence frameworks
- Drafting responses to VARA information requests for your submission, and tracking open items
An application in which the plan, the numbers and the compliance framework agree.
Post-licence compliance support
- Support meeting licence conditions before and after launch
- Compliance calendars and obligation trackers for reporting and submissions
- Periodic compliance health checks and gap assessments
- Review and update of policies, procedures and controls
- Impact assessment of Rulebook and regulatory change
- Reassessment of obligations as activities, products or the operating model change
A compliance framework the business can run, long after the day of approval.
On timelines. VARA licensing is iterative and typically runs six to eight months on average, depending on your activities, licence category and the completeness of the file, with expectations that develop as the review progresses. Our role is continuity and structure across that period, so your leadership team can keep building the business.
Partner-led, finance and compliance side by side.
Manish Kumar
Leads the financial case VARA tests: business plan and projections, capital, client asset controls, and audit and reporting readiness.
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Shuchi Singh
Leads governance, policies and AML/CFT programmes, including VARA licensing work.
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