Fintech

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Fintech legal counsel for companies building payments, lending, and banking products, covering the licensing, bank partnerships, and IP protection that turn a regulated product idea into something you can actually launch.

Fintech products live inside financial regulation that was written long before your software existed. Our attorneys have engineering backgrounds, so we understand both your tech stack and the licensing, partnership, and compliance rules that decide whether it can go to market. We help you pick a regulatory path early, before it constrains the product you have already built.

Licensing And Regulatory Path

The right regulatory structure depends on what your product actually does with money. We assess whether you need money transmitter licenses, a lending license, or a bank partnership to operate, and which states matter most for your launch. Where a regulatory sandbox or charter is worth pursuing, we walk you through it, and where it is not, we say so and point you to the faster route.

Bank And BaaS Partnerships

Many fintech products run on a sponsor bank that holds the charter and the compliance obligations. We negotiate the partnership and program agreements that let your product operate within that framework, allocate liability sensibly, and protect you when the bank's regulators come knocking. We also flag the oversight and audit terms that quietly become your obligations once the relationship is live.

Payments And Money Movement

Moving funds triggers money transmission laws, network rules, and stored-value regulation, and the analysis turns on details like who holds funds and for how long. We advise on payment processing, ACH and card flows, and stored-value products, structuring money movement to stay clear of unintended licensing triggers. You get a compliance approach built around how your money actually moves, not a generic checklist.

Lending And Credit Products

Consumer lending carries a dense layer of rules, from state licensing and usury caps to TILA and fair lending disclosure requirements. We counsel on how to originate, service, or partner on credit products without tripping these regimes, and on the bank model that some lenders use to manage rate exposure. The aim is a credit product that scales across states without rewriting its core terms each time.

Frequently asked questions

It depends on what your product does. Many fintechs avoid the cost and time of their own charter by partnering with a licensed bank that provides the regulated services underneath the product. Whether that works for you depends on your model; some activities can be done under a partner's authority, while others require licenses you'd have to hold yourself.

It's an arrangement where a licensed bank provides the regulated function, like holding deposits or issuing cards, while you build the product and customer experience on top. The structure has to be done carefully, because regulators look closely at these relationships and the bank remains responsible for compliance and oversight of what you do on its rails.

Transmitting money or holding customer funds typically triggers state money transmitter licensing, and most states require it. The requirements, thresholds, and exemptions vary state by state, so a product that moves funds nationally can face a patchwork of licenses. Some structures, such as operating through a partner bank, can reduce or avoid this, depending on the facts.

Consumer lending brings state usury caps and lender licensing, federal Truth in Lending Act disclosure requirements, and fair lending laws prohibiting discrimination. Because usury and licensing rules differ by state, the same loan product can be legal in one state and not another, which is why lending fintechs often use bank partnerships or careful state-by-state structuring.

A regulatory sandbox is a program that lets companies test an innovative product with a limited customer base under relaxed or waived requirements for a set period. Some states and countries offer them. They can be useful for getting a novel product to market while you work toward full compliance, but availability and scope are limited.

Build it into the product from the start rather than bolting it on later. In regulated financial products, retrofitting compliance after launch usually means costly remediation, customer disruption, and regulatory attention. Designing the product, data flows, and disclosures around the rules from day one is the efficient path.

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