Practice Areas

Home Practice Areas Fintech

Fintech

Our Fintech Group specialises in financial regulation, technology, e-commerce, financial services, data protection, cyber-security and more.

William Fry’s Fintech Group comprises lawyers specializing in financial services, financial regulation, technology, e-commerce, commercial contracts, data protection, cyber-security and tax. Our cross-departmental approach provides practical and innovative solutions to our clients drawing on multiple perspectives.

William Fry has acted for one-third of firms which have successfully secured authorisation as an EMI to date in Ireland on their applications. We have unrivalled experience in securing authorisation of EMIs and PIs and registration of AISPs and PISPs in Ireland quickly and efficiently.

Members of the team from William Fry’s leading M&A practice regularly advise buyers, sellers and targets on mergers and acquisitions transactions and fundraisings involving Fintechs.

We have particular strength in advising on and negotiating external and intra-group outsourcing arrangements including cloud services involving Fintechs and technology vendors both from a commercial contracts perspective and from a regulatory perspective.

Our Fintech Group can assist companies in meeting their IT and cybersecurity regulatory requirements by providing cybersecurity training from a regulatory and operational perspective; providing a 24/7 breach management and incident response service (contact us at [email protected]); advising on GDPR aspects of cyber security incidents and mandatory data security breach reporting to regulators; and reviewing or drafting IT security and cybersecurity policies.

We work with banks, AISPs and PISPs in navigating the regulatory requirements on Open Banking.

Our Fintech Group advises governmental authorities and firms on the evolving landscape of regulation of blockchain, distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrencies under Irish law. On the technology side, we advise some of the global leaders in the blockchain space.

We advise on data protection/GDPR compliance including data protection policies and notices, international data transfers, record retention policies, vendor management, data breaches and regulatory audits/investigations into data protection compliance and data protection enforcement.

We provide advice and assistance to regulated Fintechs on regulatory enforcement action and investigations by all relevant regulatory authorities.

Our Tax team members advise on tax structuring and tax planning for Fintech firms and management.

Experience

William Fry has acted for one third of successful applicants to the Central Bank of Ireland for authorisation as an EMI to date.

Areas of Expertise

Authorisation of electronic money institutions (EMIs) and payment institutions (PIs)
Fintech M&A / fundraisings
Outsourcing and Cloud Services
Cybersecurity
Open Banking
Blockchain, distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrency
Data Protection/GDPR Compliance
Regulatory enforcement

Related Areas

Banking & Finance

Data Protection & Privacy

Tax

Corporate / M&A

Related News & Insights

See all

Article and Insights

Nov 2024

Central Bank of Ireland Publishes KFD for CASPs

William Fry's Financial Regulation team examines the template key facts document (...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Nov 2024

Central Bank Penalises Payment Institution for Safeguarding Failures

William Fry's Financial Regulation team looks at a recent enforcement action again...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Nov 2024

Central Bank Formally Appointed as National Competent Authority Under MiCAR

William Fry's Financial Regulation team examines recent updates on the authorisati...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Nov 2024

Ireland Designates Nine Authorities to Safeguard Fundamental Rights Under the EU AI Act

On 31 October 2024, the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company...

Partner

Barry Scannell

Article and Insights

Oct 2024

National Payments Strategy launched by the Minister for Finance

On 15 October 2024, the Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers, launched the National...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Oct 2024

Legal News – October 24

Here is a selection of recent podcasts and publications contained in our October 2...

Article and Insights

Sep 2024

Central Bank Remarks on Combatting Financial Crime

William Fry's Financial Regulation team looks at recent Central Bank remarks on th...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Sep 2024

Central Bank Innovation Sandbox is Open For Applications

On 25 September 2024, the Central Bank of Ireland announced that its first Innovat...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Sep 2024

MiCAR: Updates to the Central Bank’s MiCAR Webpage

The Central Bank of Ireland recently updated its Markets in Crypto Assets Regulati...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Aug 2024

The Digital Euro Project: ECB Moves to Next Phase

William Fry's Financial Regulation team examines some recent developments regardin...

Partner

Louise McNabola

Article and Insights

Jul 2024

Central Bank MiCAR Authorisation and Supervisory Expectations for CASPs

William Fry's Financial Regulation team examines a recent Central Bank of Ireland ...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jul 2024

Legal News Podcast – July 24

Here is a selection of recent publications and podcasts contained in our July 2024...

Consultant

Gail Nohilly

Article and Insights

Jul 2024

Central Bank’s Authorisations and Gatekeeping Report 2024

The Central Bank of Ireland (Central Bank) has published its Authorisations and Ga...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jun 2024

Podcast – DORA: Practical Initial Steps to Compliance

In the third episode of our DORA miniseries, the Fintech team look at implementing...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

Jun 2024

DORA: ICT-Third Party Risk Management and Contract Remediation

In this episode, our Fintech team take an in-depth look at one of the key themes o...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

Jun 2024

MiCAR: EU Level 2 and 3 Measures Move Forward

William Fry's Financial Regulation team examines some recent updates regarding EU ...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jun 2024

Podcast – Overview of DORA

In this first episode of William Fry's Legal Podcast miniseries focusing on DORA, ...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

May 2024

Central Bank update on the MiCAR authorisation process

William Fry's Financial Regulation team examines a recent Central Bank of Ireland ...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

May 2024

Central Bank Update on the impact of MiCA on VASPs

On 2 May 2024, the Central Bank of Ireland signalled a change in its approach to r...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Apr 2024

Central Bank Updates Approach to Authorising Payment Institutions / E-Money Institutions

We look at updates to the Central Bank's approach to authorising Payment and E-Mon...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Apr 2024

EU AML/CFT Reform Package

Recent updates on the proposed EU anti-money laundering and terrorist financing le...

Partner

Louise McNabola

Article and Insights

Mar 2024

Payments and E-Money Sector – Central Bank Event and Report

We look at key supervisory priorities for the payments and e-money sector based on...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Feb 2024

Digital Operational Resilience Act – second batch of technical standards launched for consultation

We focus on the second batch of draft implementation measures announced by the Eur...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

Jan 2024

New Government Legislation Programme: Industry & Sector Breakdown Spring 2024

The Cabinet has approved 24 bills for priority publication and 22 bills for priori...

Consultant

Gillian Lynch

Article and Insights

Dec 2023

MiCA National Discretions: Department of Finance publishes Feedback Statement

We examine the Irish Department of Finance's exercise of national discretions unde...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Dec 2023

One Small Step for the Digital Euro, One Giant Leap for CBDC-kind

We look at recent developments regarding the digital euro, with the release of a j...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

Nov 2023

Central Bank’s Thematic Review of Irish Insurers Highlights Importance of Cyber Security

We discuss the supervisory focus on cyber security, both at a domestic and Europea...

Partner

Eoin Caulfield

Article and Insights

Nov 2023

MiCA Updates: EBA’s Third Consultation Package and the Commission’s Delegated Acts

We look at recent updates on the Regulation of Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA).

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Nov 2023

CBI Consultation Paper on Innovation Engagement (CP156)

We look at the Central Bank's consultation paper on its enhanced approach to innov...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Nov 2023

MICA Update: Joint ESMA and EBA Guidelines on Suitability Assessments

We look at the joint Consultation Paper from ESMA and the EBA on two sets of draft...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Oct 2023

MICA Update: Second Consultation Packages from ESMA and the EBA

William Fry's Financial Regulation and Fintech teams look at each of ESMA and the ...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Oct 2023

MICA Update: ESMA Communiqués on MiCA Implementation

William Fry's Financial Regulation and Fintech teams look at recent ESMA communiqu...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Oct 2023

How critical is critical? – ESAs publish technical advice on critical service provider designation under DORA

In response to the European Commission's call to action in December 2022, the Euro...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

Aug 2023

Crypto-Assets Regulatory Updates – August 2023

William Fry's Fintech and Financial Regulation teams look at recent MiCA developme...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jul 2023

Sharing is Caring: The Financial Data Access Regulation

We look at the European Commission's new proposal for a framework to manage the sh...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

Jul 2023

The Future of EU Payment Services Regulation – PSD3 and PSR

On 28 June 2023, the European Commission published its proposals for the future of...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jun 2023

A Digital Euro for the Digital Age

The European Commission has released its proposal for the Digital Euro. We conside...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jun 2023

Enforcing DORA: £80k Fine for CIO’s Failed IT Migration

We look at DORA enforcement and the potential penalties involved, and we examine a...

Partner

John O’Connor

Article and Insights

Jun 2023

Digital Operational Resilience – Are you DORA ready?

In this follow-on article for our DORA series, we focus on the draft implementatio...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jun 2023

An Era of Cryptocurrency Regulation across the Globe

We look at recent developments in the crypto-assets space, including the publicati...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Jun 2023

ECB follows Basel Committee on the Treatment of Crypto-Assets

We take a look at the ECB's directions to the banking sector following the Basel C...

Associate

William Foley

Article and Insights

Jun 2023

Central Bank Remarks on the Forthcoming Implementation of MiCA

On 30 May 2023, at a Blockchain Ireland event, Gerry Cross, Director of Financial ...

Partner

Louise McNabola

Article and Insights

May 2023

Central Bank Safeguarding Notice to PI/EMI Firms on audit requirements

On 25 May 2023, the Central Bank issued a Safeguarding Notice to Payment Instituti...

Partner

Louise McNabola

Article and Insights

May 2023

DORA: Management of ICT Third-Party Risk

In this follow-on article, we explore what DORA means for organisations when manag...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

Article and Insights

Apr 2023

Crypto firms prepare for MiCA

The European Parliament formally approved the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation ...

Partner

Shane Kelleher

See all

Practice Areas

Fintech

Our Fintech Group specialises in financial regulation, technology, e-commerce, financial services, data protection, cyber-security and more.

Key Contacts

Shane Kelleher

John O’Connor

Máire O’Neill

Related News & Insights