FinTech Features Spring 2024
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A FinTech news and event round-up from Bird & Bird's cross practice group fintech team.
In this spring edition of our newsletter, we feature articles and commentary on a range of issues affecting the FinTech sector with input from specialists across the firm. We focus on Big Tech in finance and the FCA’s plans to monitor Big Tech’s activities in space, the FCA’s Policy Note on termination rights for payment services providers, key issues in-house lawyers should consider when negotiating payment contracts and the EDPB’s focus on GDPR data subject access rights.
We also feature guest articles from our European fintech colleagues with a spotlight on MiCAR and we’ve shared the latest podcast from our new Women in Tech podcast series.
We are also excited to announce our upcoming events: please see below for further details.
Bookmark this page for updates from our FinTech Team.
Big tech in finance: 'Big tech a priority' says FCA
With a back drop of Big Tech’s increasing involvement in the payment journey, the FCA has announced plans to monitor Big Tech firms’ activities in financial services to assess whether policy changes are needed to mitigate potential competition harms given Big Tech’s unique access to large sets of data. Open banking, open finance and smart data schemes are all in the mix.
Payments contracts: a guide to gateway and acquiring services for in-house counsel
Our guide on some of the key considerations in-house counsel should think about when negotiating contracts for the provision of acquiring and / or gateway services. From set-off rights, settlement timelines to the treatment of chargebacks, this guide seeks to demystify an often deceptively complex service agreement. This theme will also be discussed at our upcoming ‘Key Trends in UK Competition Law Enforcement’ event on 14 May.
Policy note imposing new requirements on UK payment service providers in relation to termination
On 14 March 2024, the UK Government published a policy note announcing changes to the requirements applicable to payment service providers (PSPs) when they intend to terminate a contract for payment services. These changes, aimed to ensure greater protection for consumers and other users of payment services, are being introduced in the aftermath of some recent high-profile incidents of ‘de-banking’ where terminations of bank accounts or payment services were motivated by a customer’s personal or political beliefs.
The EDPB’s focus on GDPR data subject access rights in 2024
The European Data Protection Board has selected access rights as this year’s topic for “coordinated enforcement action” as it is one of the most frequently exercised (and complained about) data protection rights. With the increased focus in this area, is your organisation compliant.
Spotlight on MiCAR
MiCAR – four important questions for retailers with NFT/token projects
In the recent years, we have seen many retailers and their consumer brand NFT or token projects. It has been reported that Nike’s NFT had scored the highest revenue, exceeding $ 185 million. Also, other sports and fashion companies like Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany or Gucci, completed their NFT projects successfully. Now, the regulatory landscape for token projects in the European Union is on the verge of materially changing.
The Road to MiCAR continues – French view added
The year 2024 marks the year when the European Crypto-asset regulation (MiCAR) will start to apply. As we progress to the year, we are facing a lot of interest and work on crypto and token use cases. We started the year with a webinar series on MiCAR – reach out to us if you missed it! The rest of this year will also be in the light of MiCAR.
Women in Tech Podcast
Women in Tech: At the forefront of innovation - Key takeaways from Dr. Sonja Stuchtey, The Landbanking Group
We are delighted to launch our new Women in Tech series, where we will hear interesting stories from inspirational people leading the charge at the forefront of innovation.
In episode 4, we hear from Dr. Sonja Stuchtey, Co-Founder and Managing Director at impact-driven startup The Landbanking Group.
Interviewed by Corporate Counsel Andrea Schlote in Germany, Sonja discusses the current challenges and opportunities within the sustainable tech field - particularly around shifts in mindset in regards to nature equity and ESG. She also outlines her mission of finding entrepreneurial, scalable and tech-driven solutions to combat the increasing multi-crisis issue of nature loss and climate change.
Upcoming Events
Contract Law Developments 2024 A Briefing for the Fintech sector. Presented by Andrew White & Jonathan Emmanuel
The UK Fintech team is excited to host a Fintech-focused networking and knowledge sharing breakfast event at Bird & Bird's London offices, led by award-winning partner Andrew White on 26 June. The success of the UK Fintech sector is underpinned by a variety of business contracts from partnership and collaboration agreements to API integrations and tech sourcing arrangements Andrew will provide a whistlestop tour of recent developments in English business-to-business contract law, highlighting topics including limitation of liability, contract formation, good faith, audit and disputes about the interpretation of contract language. The aim of the briefing is to provide guests with an informal setting to meet and network with Fintech peers and arm them with the tools and insights to support their negotiation, drafting, advice and dispute management on commercial agreements.
If you are interested attending please register here
Key Trends in UK Competition Law Enforcement
You are invited to our upcoming free, in-person seminar on 14 May - an engaging and informative session on the latest cutting-edge UK competition law trends as seen by regulators and industry experts. Our panel of guest speakers includes:
- Bethan Watts – CMA/DMU - Director
- Marc Braithwaite - FCA - Manager, Competition Division
- Richard Neville - Warner Bros. Discovery - Vice President, Competition and Regulatory Affairs
- Eliza Petritsi - Deutsche Bank - Director, Antitrust, Global Markets Compliance
We will be discussing a range of issues, such as: (i) the upcoming powers in the Digital Markets Competition and Consumer Bill, (ii) the unprecedented focus by all UK regulators, including the FCA, on AI Foundation Models, algorithms, online choice architecture and Big Tech, (iii) issues around sustainability and horizontal collaborations, as well as the FCA’s consumer duty.
The discussion will take place under Chatham House Rules.
We would be delighted if you would join us afterwards for networking drinks and canapés.
