Payments Lawyers

Payments acceptance businesses operate at the heart of the transaction chain, enabling merchants to accept payments online, in-store, and across borders. Our legal payments team supports these businesses with end-to-end legal advice, from structuring acquiring and processing agreements, to advising on merchant onboarding, risk management, data protection, and regulatory compliance. 

We help navigate the complex legal landscape around card scheme rules, AML requirements, fraud prevention, and cross-border payments. Whether you're a payment gateway, acquirer, or platform offering embedded finance, we ensure your operations are legally robust, commercially sound, and scalable in a fast-moving regulatory environment.

Banks are central to the global payments ecosystem, but they face increasing complexity as they modernise legacy systems, adopt new technologies, and respond to fast-changing regulatory expectations. 

Our legal payments team advises banks on every aspect of payments law, from payment infrastructure projects and scheme participation to compliance with FCA, PSD2, and other regulatory frameworks. We assist with the legal structuring of payment products, real-time payments, API integrations, fraud prevention, and data protection. Whether you’re enhancing card issuing capabilities, launching new digital payment services, or partnering with fintechs, we help ensure your solutions are secure, compliant, and future-ready.

Card issuers operate in a highly regulated and competitive environment where compliance, innovation, and customer trust are critical. 

Our legal payments team advises card issuers, from traditional banks to fintechs and co-brand partners, on the full legal lifecycle of card issuing programs, including BIN sponsorship, scheme compliance (Visa, Mastercard, etc.), consumer credit regulation, and outsourcing arrangements. 

We help structure and negotiate key contracts with processors, program managers, and card manufacturers, while ensuring adherence to regulatory frameworks such as PSD2, FCA rules, and consumer protection laws. Whether launching prepaid, debit, credit, or virtual cards, we provide the legal support needed to deliver secure, compliant, and commercially successful products.

Open banking is transforming the way financial data and payments are shared, creating new opportunities for banks, fintechs, and third-party providers (TPPs). 

Our legal payments team advises clients across the open banking ecosystem, including account providers, PISPs, AISPs, and technology platforms. We provide this advice on everything from regulatory authorisation and data sharing frameworks to API access, consent management, and customer journey design. 

We help ensure compliance with PSD2, UK Open Banking Standards, FCA requirements, and data protection laws, while supporting the development of secure and scalable open banking solutions. Whether you're building a new product, forming a bank–fintech partnership, or navigating liability and risk in data sharing, we provide the legal insight needed to innovate with confidence.

Electronic money and innovation sit at the forefront of the modern payments landscape, enabling new ways to store, send, and manage value digitally.

Our legal payments team works with electronic money institutions (EMIs), challenger banks, fintechs, and embedded finance platforms to launch and scale innovative payment products within a complex regulatory framework.

We advise on e-money licensing, FCA and PSD2 compliance, safeguarding requirements, customer terms, and relationships with banking partners, card issuers, and payment processors. Whether you’re developing a digital wallet, multi-currency account, or integrating crypto assets into your offering, we provide commercially focused legal support that helps bring new payment solutions to market securely, compliantly, and at pace.