Fintech and Payment Solutions

Our decades of experience counseling banks and financial services companies allow us to develop and defend products in every U.S. jurisdiction, including areas with complex laws and aggressive regulators.

Our experience encompasses the full range of federal and state banking and consumer finance laws and regulations, as well as payment network rules. We provide regulatory counsel on:

• Compliance with federal and state consumer financial services laws and licensing requirements, including unfair and abusive acts and practices (UDAAPs)
• Debt collection and credit reporting
• Privacy and data security
• Data mining and aggregation
• Artificial intelligence
• Anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act requirements
• Federal preemption, Commerce Clause, and conflict-of-law issues
• Compliance-management and risk-management systems
• Marketing and advertising requirements
• Labor and employment matters, including accessibility issues

We help clients obtain deposit insurance and bank charters, as well as design and launch new programs and products. We understand the market and find practical ways of solving even the thorniest problems.

We find solutions that fit the strategic and operational needs of our clients while navigating regulatory and risk issues, especially for data security and compliance with payment network rules and federal and states laws and regulations. We guide clients on:

• Various credit and loan programs and products
• FDIC deposit insurance and bank-charter approvals
• Educational loans and income share agreements
• Payment and P2P solutions
• Payroll advance products
• Sales finance and point-of-sale products
• Small business loans and merchant cash advances
• Card products (physical and virtual), including credit, charge, prepaid, stored-value, and debit cards
• Implementation, enforcement, and upgrading of pre-dispute arbitration programs

Our transactions team has market-leading experience in the fintech and payments space. We represent some of the world’s leading players, including major financial institutions, fintech companies, merchants and retailers in all major industry verticals (including travel, consumer goods, e-commerce, and manufacturing), payment processors, and payment service providers. We also represent innovators and investors for bank sponsorships and for the evaluation and acquisition of investment targets and asset portfolios. We have experience with:

• Bank-fintech partnerships, bank sponsorships, and other strategic alliances
• Co-brand and private label cards
• Payment network, merchant, servicing, and processing agreements
• Regulatory due diligence for clients acquiring or investing in fintech companies and portfolios
• Portfolio purchases and sales
• Equity and debt capital markets transactions, including venture capital fundraising
• Credit facilities
• Mobile wallet agreements
• Rewards and loyalty agreements

We regularly help clients navigate examinations and investigations with the CFPB, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), federal and state banking agencies, and state attorneys general across the country.

We are also a market leader in the defense of class actions, derivative actions, and other complex litigation facing fintech companies. In addition, our attorneys have defended many cases involving issues of particular concern to lenders, including some of the most important usury cases of the past two decades. These enforcement actions and cases include:

• Alleged unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices (UDAAPs)
• Payment and network-related litigation
• Challenges to interest rates, fees, and other contract terms
• Compliance with the full range of federal and state consumer financial services laws, including TILA, HOEPA, ECOA, FCRA, FDCPA, RESPA, TCPA, and EFTA
• Fair lending claims and reverse redlining
• Privacy and data security-related breaches and other incidents
• Enforcement of arbitration provisions in commercial and consumer agreements

Our nationally recognized intellectual property and trademark attorneys navigate the complex fintech and payments landscape to help clients accomplish their business objectives. We have deep experience in banking and financial services, fintech, blockchain and cryptocurrency, and cybersecurity. Our experience includes:

• Leveraging USPTO administrative procedures to obtain patent protection more quickly and at a reduced cost to the client
• Protecting our client’s brands through copyright and trademark registration and monitoring for possible infringement
• Analyzing the competitive IP landscape of fintech and payments and emerging payment technologies
• Negotiating licensing and cross-licensing agreements in this technology sector, including hardware, software and business methods
• Advising companies on specific contractual agreements, such as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and confidentiality clauses, to protect their trade secrets.
• Advising early-stage growth companies and entrepreneurs as well as established companies in commercializing their IP assets
• Conducting internal patent audits and invention data mining efforts to increase the strength of, and add value to, the portfolios of our clients
• Evaluating the enforceability and validity of patents and patent claims
• Defending and enforcing our client’s intellectual property in federal district and appellate courts as well as before the USPTO in post-grant review and covered business method proceedings, as well as at the ITC in Section 337 investigations