Hogan Lovells has today opened applications for their July cohort of the Fintech Mentor Programme (FMP). To date, the program has supported over 35 FinTechs, providing each with up to £25,000 in free legal advice and regulatory consulting services. The 2024 program is open to FinTechs at any stage of development, from start-ups to more established growth players.

Eimear O’Brien, co-head of FinTech at Hogan Lovells commented:
<blockquote>“What we offer to clients is really impactful. It’s not just sitting down for a day’s workshop. It’s an ongoing relationship - for example, if we spot issues that impact the client, we’ll drop them a line. We assist with things like regulatory structuring and navigating the relationship with the regulator. We really enjoy the creativity and drive of our FMP clients.”</blockquote>
During the program, FinTechs will receive advice and insights from Hogan Lovells lawyers and regulatory consultants, as well as access to a network of industry participants and bodies to leverage the experiences of others in the sector. Participants will also have access to the Hogan Lovells FinTech Mentor Program Hub, with exclusive access to members and alumni. The Hub will be filled with resources on the latest topics and industry trends, along with other tools such as a suite of template documents, and free or subsidised access to a host of toolkits.
<a style="font-weight: bold; color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/fintech-mentor-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/fintech-mentor-program" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Fintech Mentor Programme (FMP) ✍️</a>
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Hogan Lovells has today opened applications for their July cohort of the Fintech Mentor Programme (FMP)

London, 19th October 2022 - Hogan Lovells has launched its annual <a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/topic-center/fintech-mentor-program/fintech-mentor-program" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/topic-center/fintech-mentor-program/fintech-mentor-program&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668686201066000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1wWo2XIBtJeCjsWEEhDtvy">FinTech Mentor Program</a> in its sixth year and is now open to a new 2023 intake.
The program, previously known as the Global FinTech Mentor and Momentum Program, has to date invested more than a million pounds in supporting over 30 FinTechs - providing each with up to £25,000 in free legal and regulatory consulting services. The 2023 program is open to FinTechs at any stage of development, from start-ups to more established growth players.
Emily Reid, Head of FinTech and Innovation at Hogan Lovells commented: 

<blockquote>
“As the FinTech community comes together again, we’re delighted to be launching a revamped program with additional opportunities for networking. Collaboration breeds innovation and we know our new applicants will benefit greatly from the insights of our previous cohorts. As we enter a difficult economic period, we’re particularly keen to support FinTechs who are using technology to solve the issues of today and, through our legal and regulatory advice, help them on their growth journey.”
</blockquote>
During the program, FinTechs will receive advice and insights from Hogan Lovells lawyers and regulatory consultants, as well as access to a network of industry participants and bodies to leverage the experiences of others in the sector. Hogan Lovells has also launched a brand new FinTech Mentor Program Hub, with exclusive access to members and alumni. The Hub will be filled with resources on the latest topics and industry trends, along with other such as a suite of template documents, and free or subsidised access to a host of LawTech tools.
Alumni of the program include:
Your Juno – provides women and non-binary people with the financial knowledge and confidence to build their wealth.

<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
 	<li>Pillar – a credit platform which enables customers to use their international credit history to apply for a Pillar credit card and build their credit score across the globe.</li>
 	<li>Just Lend – a platform making lending and borrowing money between friends and family faster and smoother.</li>
 	<li>Updraft – an overdraft replacement app that provides low-interest loan facilities and debt-reducing nudges to customers.</li>
</ul>
Aseem Munshi, CEO of Updraft, said: 

<blockquote>
“The Hogan Lovells team are friendly, available and very knowledgeable regulatory lawyers. They made it easy for us to get high-quality advice at a crucial stage of our development.”
</blockquote>
Frederika Johnstone, Chief of Staff at Banked, said:

<blockquote>
“Hogan Lovells is an excellent all-round firm. The team is very commercially oriented and attuned to our needs. They’re extremely capable and are able to work through really complex FinTech projects with ease.”
</blockquote>
Ines Chaib, COO of Gaia, said:

<blockquote>
 "They understood our complex model extremely quickly. The team is solution driven and helped us to shape our next few years along the regulatory roadmap.”
</blockquote>
Applications for the first cohort of the 2023 program are now open and will close on 31 December 2022. The firm will be accepting 10 applicants to the program next year: five in January and five in June. Further information on applying can be found here: <a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/topic-center/fintech-mentor-program/fintech-mentor-program" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/topic-center/fintech-mentor-program/fintech-mentor-program&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1668686201066000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1wWo2XIBtJeCjsWEEhDtvy">FinTech Mentor Program (hoganlovells.com)</a>

Hogan Lovells launches its FinTech Mentor Program for 2023

By Rachel Kent, Partner and Head of Financial Services Regulation, <a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/">Hogan Lovells</a>

On 31/01/20

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At 11pm (UK time) on 31 January 2020, the UK will formally leave the EU. The UK's relationship with the EU will no longer be governed by the EU Treaties, but instead by the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement agreed between the UK and the EU. Under that agreement, the UK will enter a transition period, which is set to end on 31 December 2020.

What does the transition period mean for you?

During the transition period:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">almost all EU law continues to apply as it did before Brexit;</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">most new EU law that is to be implemented before the end of the transitional period will also apply in the UK, but the UK will no longer have input into the law-making process;</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">the UK is still treated as a Member State – and is not a third country – for the purposes of most EU regulatory regimes;</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">free movement of people and passporting rights provided pursuant to EU law and/or by EU bodies continue to be valid in the EU and the UK;</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">EU institutions, such as the Court of Justice of the EU, continue to have jurisdiction in the UK during the transition period; and</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">the UK is permitted to negotiate the terms of trade agreements between it and the EU and also with the rest of the world.</li>
</ul>
Will the transition period be extended?

The Withdrawal Agreement provides an option to extend the transition period by either one or two years (until 31 December 2021 or 2022, respectively). However, the UK Government has ruled out extending the transition period. The option to extend the transition period provided under the Withdrawal Agreement lapses at 11pm on 30 June 2020. Therefore, after 30 June 2020, if the option is not exercised, there will be no legal mechanism available to extend the transition period. It is nevertheless possible that the UK and EU could agree to do so outside the currently available mechanisms.

What happens on 31 December 2020?

The Government intends to negotiate a new free trade agreement with the EU during the transition period that will come into effect on 1 January 2021. However, it is unclear how extensive this agreement will be and whether financial services will be addressed, particularly in the limited time available for negotiation. Even if financial services are included in a trade agreement, it may not extend beyond what is available to third countries under existing EU equivalence regimes.

If there is no agreement before 31 December 2020 and no extension of the transition period is agreed, the transition period will end and the UK will have no international agreement governing its ongoing relationship with the EU. The UK will no longer be treated as a Member State and will be treated as a third country by the EU. Passporting rights will cease to apply. 

Even though EU law will no longer apply in the UK after this transition period, the approach of the UK Government is to "onshore" EU legislation by largely adopting EU law as it applies immediately before the end of the transition period. In practical terms, therefore, there is unlikely to be any change in law unless the Government decides to make changes to UK law or if UK courts interpret onshored EU law differently.

Talent

For EU employees to stay in the UK beyond 31 December 2020, they will need to apply by 30 June 2021 to remain in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme, or for leave to remain under the UK's new skills-based future immigration system, the details of which are still to be finalised.

Data

In addition, unless the UK can negotiate "adequacy" status under the General Data Protection Regulation prior to 31 December 2020, EU law will require additional measures to be put in place where personal data is transferred from the EEA to the UK. The Commission has said it will start the adequacy assessment "as soon as possible after the UK's withdrawal, endeavouring to adopt decisions by the end of 2020, if the applicable conditions are met".

Can we benefit from passporting after the transition period?

If you are exercising a passporting right at the moment, it may be that there is a temporary national regime set up with Brexit in mind, such as the UK temporary permissions regime. However, the availability and scope of application of such regimes is patchy and of limited duration.

Under EU and UK law, there are "third country (or equivalence) regimes" under which each party may grant access to their markets under certain circumstances. One of the key requirements is that the EU and the UK must determine each other to have equivalent regulatory frameworks. 

John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, confirmed recently that the Government intends to seek equivalence across all of the EU equivalence regimes (approximately 40). However, positive equivalence assessments are not guaranteed and can become politicised. It may be that access to the EU for UK financial services is caught up in "trade-offs" in negotiations. Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Trade, has recently suggested a trade-off between the EU seeking fishing access and the UK seeking concessions for financial services. For now, this is a case of watch and wait.

If the UK achieves positive equivalence assessments, passporting rights will be available under the regimes deemed equivalent (and the decisions may differ as between them). However, the scope of equivalence is limited and does not include deposit-taking, lending, payment services, mortgage lending and insurance mediation and distribution.  

For more information, please check out the Hogan Lovells Brexit Hub (<a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.hoganlovellsbrexit.com/">here</a>) or contact one of the Hogan Lovells Brexit Taskforce (<a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.hoganlovellsbrexit.com/contacts">here</a>).

Brexit in 2020

Hogan Lovells has been at the heart of innovation within the financial institutions and insurance sectors for many years, working on a range of developments from the UK's first ever debit card to the launch of the UK's first peer to peer lending platform and the launch of the first global, mobile, contactless payments solution. The firm has helped countless FinTech companies, including momentum players such as, Habito, Landbay, Salary Finance, Tide and Zopa, throughout their life-cycles.
<a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/fintech-blog">Find out more</a>.
&nbsp;
Hogan Lovells Engage
Launched at Money 2020 Europe, Hogan Lovells Engage is a pioneering platform for FinTechs and established financial institutions providing news and insights on legal and regulatory developments. It also hosts their cutting-edge, online legal and regulatory products including the Regulatory Accelerator, a new bespoke, fixed-fee, packaged FCA Authorisation application service plus a first of its kind, comprehensive PSD2 tool.
Access and subscribe <a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/engage">here</a>.
&nbsp;
Global FinTech Mentors Program
Hogan Lovells has recently launched a new FinTech Mentors Program, through which its most experienced Financial Services and Regulatory partners will guide FinTech organizations, at any stage of development, through their FinTech journey.
Contact one of our mentors from our offices across the UK, U.S., Germany and Hong Kong to see how we can collaborate.
<a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/publications/hogan-lovells-global-fintech-mentors-program">Find out more</a>.
&nbsp;
The Regulatory Accelerator
The Regulatory Accelerator is an online tool, to help FinTechs understand and navigate the FCA's regulatory regime as they start up and scale. It includes resources and tools to help FinTechs determine whether they are conducting regulated activities or issuing financial promotions, and whether they, therefore, need to be an authorised firm or an appointed representative. It also provides information on the FCA application process, what FinTechs will need to demonstrate to the FCA in order to be eligible for authorisation and the key rules that will apply to the business once it becomes authorised.
The Regulatory Accelerator is free to FinTech members of Innovate Finance.
<a href="https://www.hoganlovellsregulatoryaccelerator.com/">Find out more</a>.

Hogan Lovells

Hogan Lovells has been at the heart of innovation within the financial institutions and insurance sectors for many years, working on a range of developments from the UK's first ever debit card to the launch of the UK's first peer to peer lending platform and the launch of the first global, mobile, contactless payments solution. The firm has helped countless FinTech companies, including momentum players such as, Habito, Landbay, Salary Finance, Tide and Zopa, throughout their life-cycles.

<a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/fintech-blog">Find out more</a>.

&nbsp;

Hogan Lovells Engage

Launched at Money 2020 Europe, Hogan Lovells Engage is a pioneering platform for FinTechs and established financial institutions providing news and insights on legal and regulatory developments. It also hosts their cutting-edge, online legal and regulatory products including the Regulatory Accelerator, a new bespoke, fixed-fee, packaged FCA Authorisation application service plus a first of its kind, comprehensive PSD2 tool.

Access and subscribe <a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/engage">here</a>.

&nbsp;

Global FinTech Mentors Program

Hogan Lovells has recently launched a new FinTech Mentors Program, through which its most experienced Financial Services and Regulatory partners will guide FinTech organizations, at any stage of development, through their FinTech journey.

Contact one of our mentors from our offices across the UK, U.S., Germany and Hong Kong to see how we can collaborate.

<a href="https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/publications/hogan-lovells-global-fintech-mentors-program">Find out more</a>.

&nbsp;

The Regulatory Accelerator

The Regulatory Accelerator is an online tool, to help FinTechs understand and navigate the FCA's regulatory regime as they start up and scale. It includes resources and tools to help FinTechs determine whether they are conducting regulated activities or issuing financial promotions, and whether they, therefore, need to be an authorised firm or an appointed representative. It also provides information on the FCA application process, what FinTechs will need to demonstrate to the FCA in order to be eligible for authorisation and the key rules that will apply to the business once it becomes authorised.

The Regulatory Accelerator is free to FinTech members of Innovate Finance.

<a href="https://www.hoganlovellsregulatoryaccelerator.com/">Find out more</a>.

Partner and Head of Financial Services, Hogan Lovells

With over 30 years experience, Emily has built a reputation for delivering innovative ideas and solutions to Fintech companies and other established players. She has extensive experience in law, regulation, payment schemes and other infrastructure that apply to the fast moving payments, consumer finance, merchant acquiring and banking industries. Emily is working increasingly on projects where technology is disrupting the traditional relationships between banks and their customers, increasing competition and creating new products (e.g. robo-advice) and where the blockchain will drive further change, not just to crypto-currencies.

Emily Reid

Partner, Head of Financial Institutions Group, Hogan Lovells

Vice-Chair of the Policy and Regulation chapter of HM Treasury’s FinTech Strategic Review
Rachel Kent was appointed the Complaints Commissioner on 01 January 2024.
Rachel was previously a partner in the financial services regulatory team at law firm Hogan Lovells.
In March 2023, Rachel was appointed to chair the independent Investment Research Review launched by the government, a review into the UK’s research and investment landscape. Rachel also acted as Vice-Chair of the Policy and Regulation chapter of Ron Kalifa’s FinTech Strategic Review.
She has also acted as the General Counsel at the UK Infrastructure Bank and is an Advisory Board Member for HM Treasury’s Socio-Economic Mobility Taskforce and HM Treasury’s Expert Trade Advisory Group.

Rachel Kent

Partner, Sector Leader & Head of Financial Institutions, Hogan Lovells

Sharon is Sector Leader and Global Head of the Financial Institutions Sector and she co-heads the Digital Assets and Blockchain practice. She advises on the full range of capital markets transactions, including several award-winning and industry firsts in debt capital markets, derivatives, securitization, repackaging, and other structured products, and corporate bonds. She has extensive banking experience, particularly in the fields of structured finance, secured lending, loan restructuring, and loan trading. Sharon also advises clients across several industry sectors,  automotive-related financing, insurance-linked securities and energy-related financing.

Hogan Lovells

Hogan Lovells

Team Members

Emily Reid

Rachel Kent

Sharon Lewis

Insights

Hogan Lovells has today opened applications for their July cohort of the Fintech Mentor Programme (FMP)

Hogan Lovells launches its FinTech Mentor Program for 2023

Brexit in 2020