Fintech

Bridging the gap between tradition and technology.

Our Scope

Our fintech industry team delivers strategic legal counsel aligned with business imperatives—advising clients on embedded finance, banking as a service (BaaS), bank/fintech partnerships, decentralized finance (DeFi), distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), digital assets, tokenization, insurtech, proptech, artificial intelligence (AI), non-bank lending (including algorithm-based underwriting technologies), robotic process automation (RPA), green/sustainable fintech, and the existing, pending, and proposed regulatory framework applicable to each of these fintech topics and sectors.

We are one-stop legal counsel to participants in the fintech industry on corporate and governance matters, cutting-edge transactions, new laws and regulatory compliance, bet-the-company litigation and enforcement proceedings, and other dispute resolution matters. Areas in which we support fintech clients include:

Fintech platform financings, investments, and capital markets transactions
Transactional matters including structured finance and securitizations, financing transactions, mergers & acquisitions, international expansion and cross-border transactions, and securities offerings
IP protection, employment, regulatory compliance, privacy and cybersecurity, tax, and litigation
Defining, designing, structuring, recapitalizing, and rebuilding business models in a time of unprecedented and rapidly evolving economic, technological, and regulatory challenges

We represent many of the fintech industry’s global household names in developing strategies to comply with the ever-expanding regulatory landscape and in overcoming novel enforcement initiatives that threaten to delay or derail business objectives. We have advised our clients in executing 500+ emerging company and venture capital financing transactions with an aggregate value of more than $20 billion. Our established relationships with sovereign wealth funds and the venture capital and investment banking communities around the world benefit clients seeking to expand their ROI and market presence. Our global talent and resources and key relationships allow us to provide exceptional service to our clients as they traverse the shifting terrain of this fluid industry sector.

Areas of Focus

We advise on funding, compliance, corporate governance, and technological advancements to support startup and investor objectives—including owning and monetizing innovation, tactical product launches, strategic M&A, and prevailing in all types of litigation.

Digital assets, Web3 technologies, payment systems, market infrastructure, and trading practices
Regulatory and legal compliance in light of new technologies and rapidly changing laws and industry protocols
Novel transaction structures
Digital assets, data management, outsourcing, and payment regulations
High-stakes dispute resolution and litigation, including bet-the-company matters

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Our lawyers counsel startups and established fintechs on BaaS offerings and bank/fintech partnerships—from product launch to securitizations and sales. We also represent clients before federal banking agencies and consumer financial services regulators and their state counterparts in supervisory and enforcement matters.

Developing, licensing, and launching new products
Establishing compliance management systems
Responding to adverse examination findings
Resolving confidential regulatory investigations
Litigating complex proceedings against regulators
Conducting regulatory due diligence in transactional matters

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Our team crafts legal solutions for decentralized finance arrangements, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), tokenization, and blockchain banking and transactions. We proactively adapt to shifting cryptocurrency trends and transparent asset movement, focusing on emerging market opportunities.

Mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, and insolvency events
Digital assets, Web3, cryptocurrencies, crypto derivatives, and NFTs
Structured products, market infrastructure solutions, and blockchain technologies
Regulatory solutions, investigations, and enforcement proceedings
Dispute resolution and complex litigation

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We are an integral partner to companies at all stages of development and a trusted adviser to financial and strategic investors in the insurtech space. We consistently address regulatory challenges in this burgeoning market—offering legal advice underpinned by cutting-edge technologies to clients throughout the value chain.

Venture capital and growth equity funding to exit events
Regulatory compliance for digital transformation
Strategic collaborations and commercial arrangements with insurers, reinsurers, and corporate venture capital stakeholders
Data privacy and cybersecurity
Risk mitigation and advocacy

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Our team is well versed in the commercial and regulatory issues impacting the growing proptech sector, and have represented our clients in novel proptech matters, including a first-ever transaction forming the foundation for a new asset class. We help enhance efficiency and profits and leverage digital tools across diverse real estate and related assets and transactions—from traditional properties to specialized facilities.

Commercial contracts with IT vendors and data center owners focused on confidentiality, data privacy, and licensing of proptech innovations
Helping establish the home equity investment (HEI) securitization asset class, including representation of leading issuers of HEI securitization platforms and as underwriters’/initial purchasers’ counsel for HEI capital markets ABS programs
Regulatory compliance across proptech growth, including personal data protection, shared data ownership, and drone use in construction projects
IP ownership, IT infrastructure, cyber incident response and operational resilience, and data management within the proptech sector
Transaction management, acceleration, incubation, and startups
M&A, security management, and digital transformation including blockchain, AI, and robotics

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Morgan Lewis has a longstanding history representing some of the world’s leading alternative lenders/non-bank lenders—and their related investment and financing parties—in the fintech sector. We’ve also been involved in the financing and securitization of residential HEIs from the beginning, representing the first participants in this asset class in novel transactions. We advise fintech platforms, financial institutions, investors, and other market participants.

Securitization and other financing and monetization of unsecured consumer loans and commercial loans
Capital markets transactions, including forward-flow arrangements, warehouse financing facilities, repo transactions, and securitization facilities and issuance platforms
Asset-based lending and bridge facilities for interim financing of receivables and other assets
Structuring and establishment of acquisition finance facilities for various types of financial assets
Innovative and disruptive technologies such as loan trading platforms, peer-lending platforms, payment systems, ride-sharing platforms, and other companies involved in marketplace lending

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DeFi's revolutionary potential brings with it unique legal challenges. Our team believes in bridging the gap between blockchain technology and traditional finance law by providing legal solutions that can simultaneously bolster innovation and regulatory compliance.