Fintech (FIGx^®)

FIGx^®, BFKN’s Fintech Group, advises clients at the intersection of banking, technology, and regulation. Combining many decades of experience representing financial institutions with deep knowledge of emerging technologies, our attorneys represent hundreds of banks, payments companies, lenders, cryptocurrency companies, wealth managers, and other financial institutions. Marrying these unique skillsets, we help financial institutions navigate the obstacles to innovation, including starting Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offerings and other bank-sponsored programs.

We guide banks seeking to:

• Partner with fintechs.
• Launch new products or services.
• Offer Banking-as-a-Service.
• Invest in banktech.
• Collaborate with regulators, clear regulatory hurdles, and obtain approvals.
• Obtain or divest lines of business.
• Manage vendor relationships.
• Defend against litigation and regulatory enforcement actions.

We help fintechs to:

• Build and implement compliance systems.
• Obtain licenses, charters, and secure regulatory approvals.
• Partner with banks.
• Respond to government and regulatory inquiries.
• Launch new products.
• Acquire or merge with other entities.
• Defend against claims of wrongdoing and contractual breach.

We also help venture capital, private equity, and other clients to:

• Offer or embed financial products.
• Accept payments and partner with financial institutions.
• Evaluate investments in or acquisitions of licensed or regulated financial institutions.

Leveraging a combination of legal, regulatory, and in-house experience, our attorneys are highly credentialed, with deep experience and strong business acumen. As a result, we have a wealth of knowledge in crafting practical and creative solutions to difficult, unique, complex, and technology-focused issues for some of the world’s most innovative companies.

Fintech-Bank Partnerships & BaaS

Whether negotiating a program management agreement, helping a client diligence potential partners, or interfacing with regulators, our attorneys help both banks and fintechs develop, manage, and form enduring, mutually beneficial partnerships. In the last few years alone, we have successfully negotiated scores of partnerships and helped banks and fintechs evaluate and launch new credit, lending, cryptocurrency, investment, and payments products and offerings.

Investment and M&A Regulatory Due Diligence

Our FIGx^® due diligence team is comprised of nine former bank regulators, compliance specialists, fintech thought leaders, and M&A practitioners. Working closely with the counsel leading the deal or investment, we help private equity, venture, and traditional clients understand and evaluate the discrete issues unique to regulated financial institutions. We focus on evaluating licensed, regulated targets, including:

• State & National Banks.
• Trust Companies (Including Special Purpose & NonDepository Trusts).
• Payments Companies (Including Payment Facilitators, Payment Processors & ISOs).
• Lenders, Loan Servicers, and Debt Collectors.
• Money Transmitters.
• Insurance Companies.
• Digital Asset Companies.

Compliance, Licensing, and Regulatory Advocacy

New technologies and novel products require specialized knowledge of the underlying technologies, the regulatory landscape, and relevant licensing and examination requirements. Our FIGx^® attorneys are uniquely suited to help clients secure licenses, acquire a bank or obtain a de novo charter, or navigate the relevant regulatory, compliance, and contractual obstacles. With experience in everything from Reg. A to Reg. ZZ, extensive regulatory contacts, and decades of experience advocating for clients in front of state and federal financial regulators, our team can help from inception to an exit.

Payments

Our FIGx^® is uniquely positioned to assist our clients that need to understand prepaid access, payment networks, ACH, real-time payments (Clearinghouse and FedNow), digital and mobile banking, and other novel issues relating to the movement or acceptance of money. Recently, we have represented payments companies and advised on cutting-edge digital, mobile, and non-traditional payments, including:

• Negotiating and managing payment processing and sponsored account relationships with systemically important financial institutions to facilitate acceptance of hundreds of millions of dollars in payments.
• Helping a large community bank develop prepaid and reloadable open network private label products, leading to the generation of tens of millions of dollars in revenue through hundreds of commercial customers.
• Assisting large community banks and fintechs with BIN sponsorship and debit and credit card issuance.
• Developing disclosures and agreements for a bank client to participate in a blockchain-based settlement network.
• Structuring legally-compliant merchant cash advances, earned wage access products, and income share agreements for fintech lenders.
• Assisting large community and regional banks with becoming funding agents on The Clearinghouse’s Real Time Payments Network.
• Representing international e-commerce and retail merchants in connection with multi-million dollar ACH chargeback disputes.

Digital Assets & Blockchain

Our attorneys have been involved in some of the largest and best-known projects in this evolving, heavily scrutinized industry. For over seven years, we have helped crypto entrepreneurs and established businesses navigate the crypto legal landscape. We have helped Fortune 500 companies, banks, and fintechs launch cryptocurrency wallets, evaluate qualified custodian status, develop custody products, design crypto-focused compliance programs, secure money transmitter licenses, navigate partnerships and commercial relationships, raise funding, and interface with FinCEN, OFAC, and state and federal financial regulators.