Financial services

Our multidisciplinary financial services sector group is recognised for providing effective advice to businesses and individuals in this competitive and highly regulated market.

As well as being market leaders in their respective areas of practice, each member of our dedicated sector group has significant experience of working with clients in the financial services sector.

We understand the challenges that our financial services clients face and deliver a practical and responsive service to meet the specific needs and aspirations of our clients.  We are able to draw upon the invaluable insight many of our team have gained from working in the FSA, FCA, SFO and a range of firms in the financial services industry.

Our sector group provides a full service offering to financial services clients.  We can support clients with: corporate investments and funding; real estate; commercial disputes; employment law and business immigration related issues; data protection; product and service development; financial services regulatory requirements; through to supervisory interventions, enforcement investigations and remediation exercises. We also manage internal investigations and provide specialist criminal advice, supporting clients dealing with police enquiries to representing clients in SFO investigations and prosecutions.

Our clients range from international and UK-headquartered banks, insurers, investment firms, and fintechs and alternative finance providers, as well as businesses seeking funding and those making investments in the sector.  We are also at the forefront of the market in representing senior individuals operating in this space.

Financial services experience

• Advised on the admissibility and categorisation of new debt and equity regulatory capital instruments.

• Advised an international payment, identity, e-money and banking solutions service provider on various UK and EEA regulatory issues, as well as VISA, MasterCard and other card scheme rules.

• Advised on terms of business for restricted deposit accounts.

• Advised on D&O, life, pet and professional indemnity policies.

• Advised on internal investigations into actual and potential insider dealing and other forms of market abuse, disciplinary action against senior bankers and reporting to the regulators in a safe, appropriate and timely way.

• Prepared and / or advised on various FCA applications for authorisation of electronic money issuers or payment institutions and provided ongoing payments regulatory advice to the same (including advising on the basis for authorisation, safeguarding, required and breach of regulatory capital, reports and notifications to the FCA, and on T&Cs and other agreements).

• Advised a cryptocurrency exchange on a corporate restructure to de-risk the businesses, the issuance of electronic money, the preparation and submission of two FCA applications and subsequent communications with the FCA; and anti-money laundering issues.

• Acted for a group of executives within a FTSE 250 financial services company on various corporate governance and market abuse issues and liaised with the corporate governance committee and NEDs. This led to the resignation of the Chairman / CEO and promotion of all other executives.

• Advised Allianz X, the digital investment unit of the Allianz group, on various investments including its Series B investment in SafeBoda, a major African ride hailing platform that also offers various on-demand consumer and payment services.

• Advised a multinational ecommerce corporation and online marketplace on the commercial and regulatory consequences of a group restructure, and providing ongoing payments regulatory and other advice.

• Advised award-winning, ‘API Only’ technology provider Yapily Ltd on a funding round, co-led by LocalGlobe and HV Holtzbrinck Ventures.