We provide the knowledge and practical advice that innovators in the financial services market need to understand and navigate the financial services regulatory environment and the emerging technology industry.
Advisory
Often the regulatory determination occurs at a very early stage of a FinTech company’s growth. Due to this early stage of determination, frequently very critical decisions about products, services and customer acquisition have to be made at a much earlier stage than companies in other verticals.
Depending on the applicable regulatory environment, early stage FinTech companies may invest significant resources and money in ensuring the regulatory compliance of their products or services, and determining if it is commercially viable to provide them to consumer businesses.
FinTech companies seek our advice because of our deep knowledge of the financial industry and its regulatory environment. We have gained this experience through the significant work we do for many of the major financial services industry players, combined with our long history and understanding of the needs of emerging technology companies. We understand how the industry is evolving and adapting to change. It is this experience that enables us to guide clients through generational change in products and services within those regulations.
In addition to the advice our IT and IP groups offer, we are able to guide clients in their commercial activities by assisting them to identify and establish potentially viable business partnerships. As well, we help our clients understand the ‘defined regulatory sandbox’ of their products and services. We also facilitate regulatory approval, counseling clients on the commercial implications of compliance and negotiating with federal and provincial regulatory bodies on their behalf.
Transactional/Corporate
Our team works with FinTech clients beyond regulatory compliance matters and assists FinTech clients in acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing agreements and other aspects of M&A transactions. A few of the key areas we advise on include:
- Retail – The Fasken Retail Banking team provides deep knowledge and experience in typical financial services industry matters, such as consumer cost of borrowing disclosure, anti-money laundering (AML), credit reporting, privacy, anti-spam, advertising and electronic commerce – all focused on retail banking products and consumer facing legal issues.
- Corporate/Commercial and Securities Regulatory – We provide extensive knowledge and experience in the sale and marketing of securities online, fundraising and management of funds providing financial products, equity crowdfunding, blockchain- based projects designed to disintermediate financial or securities transactions, cryptocurrency or crypto asset trading platforms and all the related providers of products and services.
- Fundraising and Financing – Our team has deep experience working with FinTech companies to raise capital. We advise some of the leading high-growth FinTech companies and investors on all stages of financings, through equity and convertible instruments, all the way to the exit. We also have well-known experience in venture debt and we have advised FinTech companies on a multitude of debt financings, including monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and innovation tax credit (SR&ED) financings, with institutional and venture lenders.
Our vast experience with and knowledge of innovative solutions to address the unique challenges FinTech companies face, along with our broad understanding of retail banking and securities regulatory issues means we are well positioned to provide effective, practical and relevant advice on the delivery of new products and services in this rapidly advancing industry.
