Payments & Digital Commerce

We help clients manage

• Capital investment strategies
• Development of effective and usable policies and procedures
• Expansion strategies
• Federal and state compliance
• Integration with ACH providers, acquirers, card networks, ISOs, and payment processors
• Investment due diligence
• Marketing strategies
• Multi-state licensing strategies
• Outside and regulatory audits
• Regulatory responses and corrective action plans
• Social media and web presence integration
• Structural questions
• Telecom and hardware provider integration and technology licensing
• Third party investors

Interdisciplinary team

• Broad experience in card network rules and regulations, payment processing and platform agreements, NACHA regulations, P2P lending, and software integration
• Compliance and regulatory teams
• Former in-house counsel for national financial institutions
• Former in-house compliance and privacy manager and former in-house legal compliance officer for non-bank lenders   
• Investment and emerging growth teams
• Litigators to anticipate issues and tackle disputes
• Privacy and cybersecurity attorneys who have handled large data breaches
• Real estate, finance, and tax perspectives

Our clients span the financial services sector

• Card processors and sponsors
• Closed-loop prepaid card processors
• Digital Wallet providers
• FinTech equity and debt investors
• Global, national, regional, and community financial institutions
• Institutional and emerging growth investors
• National, regional, local banks
• Open-loop providers of general purpose reloadable (“GPR”) cards
• P2P, real-time payment providers
• Technology driven banks and payment subsidiaries
• Technology providers that layer consumer data onto payments processing
• Wireless/telecom providers offering alternative payment structures

Explore new possibilities in mobile payments − whether you are an emerging FinTech company or a traditional financial services company

Mobile payments are changing the financial services landscape.  With the advent of real-time and near real-time payment processing, clients can expand services, while minimizing payment default risks.  Beyond the benefits of offering a product in high customer demand, the ability to obtain data, spending habits, and consumer data is invaluable for cross-marketing and targeted product placement.  We work with clients on solving specific use cases and developing creative, compliant products to meet their market needs. 

Our Mobile Payments Team advises and works with you to

• Acquire and dispose of portfolios – including single and large portfolios of loans or other financial instruments
• Advocate for legislative and regulatory change – that provides clarity to emerging fields of finance that does not “fit” traditional ending regulations
• Conduct due diligence – on companies that are the target of investments
• Coordinate the defense – of regulator or attorney general investigations
• Defend challenges – to product offerings by regulators or borrowers
• Develop growth strategies – that position companies for investment and capital raising
• Develop new products – that solve unique market needs not served by traditional payment mechanisms
• Develop responses to regulators – questioning a product or demanding corrective action plans
• Develop third party vendor due diligence strategies – for partners and service providers
• Enforce claims – against networks, processors, program managers, and servicers.
• Evaluate risks – of product designs or payment strategies
• Explore the bounds of finance – including working on legislation and regulations for new products and product classes
• Fund emerging technologies – through equity or debt offerings
• License Technology – and develop platform integrations
• Prepare for audits and examinations
• Protect innovation – through aggressive intellectual property strategies
• Review marketing and advertising materials – for compliance and clarity
• Stay compliant – with federal and state money transmitter laws and regulations
• Stay current – with regulatory developments from banking regulators, state regulators, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of the Treasury / FinCEN
• Structure investments – including the creation of special purpose entities or investment vehicles to participate in mobile payments companies
• Structure products and partnerships – to help take your company from an emerging growth company to a nationally competitive mobile payments provider
• Test security and data integrity – to comply with privacy, cybersecurity, and E-Sign regulations

Following is a selected sampling of matters and is provided for informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in any future matter.

• Addressed money transmitter regulatory compliance for an indirect, agent based payments model
• Addressed regulatory compliance issues with client offering online closed-loop gift card marketplace
• Assisted in the development of one of the leading “dual loop,” multi-criteria card authorization platforms
• Brought together mobile payments with electronic investment advisor services to provide a mobile based RIA with the ability to “gift” contributions and assess savings
• Built a model for a client that was using expedited payment rail processing with alternative routing systems
• Consulted with banks developing a real-time payments engine including new ACH core integration
• Counseled clients on integration challenges with municipal transportation cards and real-time reloads
• Developed an ACH integration for one of the largest merchant-focused payment platforms
• Developed a Know Your Customer integration for account opening, funding, authentication, and authorization solely through mobile platforming
• Integrated a client’s mobile payments platform into a state college savings platform for “give the gift of college” program to assist traditionally underserved communities
• Negotiated program administrator and card sponsor agreements for multiple clients
• Structured programs for real-time reloads from cards and ACH into mobile payment and loyalty program