Fintech

Our focus on the fintech sector is a natural product of Orrick’s strengths in technology and finance. We advise more than 2,700 high-growth clients globally and have been recognized as the Most Innovative Law Firm in North America for the 3rd year in a row by Financial Times in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Our finance and transactional capabilities are well documented.  In 2018, we have assisted clients in raising $14.6 billion in venture-backed financings and executed $42 billion in M&A transactions globally. Our finance team is known for developing first-of-a-kind structures and is among the most active securitization firms. In 2016, we advised on securitizations with an aggregate value of approximately $50 billion, including several complex transactions for fintech platforms.

We advise both payment specialists and brand-name companies on data breach, payment card fine and penalty mitigation, data protection, Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering regulatory defense and compliance, and Payment Card Industry rules and standards. And our Public Policy group has garnered acclaim for guiding clients, including fintechs, through an evolving regulatory landscape at all levels of government in areas that were previously uncharted waters. These capabilities, combined with many others, enable us to provide comprehensive solutions for fintech globally.

Fintech is changing the world. We believe in the value proposition of fintech because we have been innovating alongside our clients as they transform the economy. Some examples include:

• We have advised the largest provider of student loan refinancing in the United States since its inception, enabling it to revolutionize the over US$3 trillion owed in education debt with more than US$13 billion in funded loans and over 200,000 consumers benefitting from reduced debt loads.
• Our work for one of the largest global payment providers has allowed the company to grow to a soaring $9.2 billion valuation and in doing so transform online commerce, enabling the business and its European subsidiary to allow customers in over 110 countries make faster, more secure purchases over the internet.
• Working closely with us, a crowdfunding platform transformed and established itself as a business that strives to provide cleantech and solar energy access to emerging markets, including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda among other key geographies.
• We assist the largest robo-advisor in providing low-cost retirement solutions, allowing over 300 small businesses to invest their employees’ 401(k)s in its automated platform and achieve results that have outperformed both markets and professional investment advisors, now managing over $6 billion in retail, retirement and advisor-managed assets.
• We helped an online peer-to-peer lender develop a new trust structure designed to provide additional security to investors and insulate them from exposure in the event of the platform’s bankruptcy.  Our team drew from Orrick's structured finance expertise, which frequently sees the creation of bankruptcy-remote structures. The transaction allowed our client to streamline and grow its business and become a significant presence in the fintech market.

Growing with our clients.  From emerging growth companies to mature, publicly-traded enterprises, we partner seamlessly with our clients to provide appropriate support at each stage of development.  We have deep experience across all phases of the life cycle, having handled hundreds of advisory engagements, equity and debt capital markets transactions, including securitizations, and employment, litigation and regulatory matters on behalf of a vast array of fintech clients, and the banks and funds that provide financing to fintech companies.

Seeing around the corners. As regulators increasingly focus on the burgeoning fintech industry, we provide clients with comprehensive solutions and real-time practical advice on evolving and sometimes contradictory regulatory developments. A company’s compliance challenges might, for example, involve employment requirements in Europe, financial regulation in the United States, rules governing business practices in China or all of the above. Our global team is located in the world’s key financial and business centers, and has the capacity to solve the most difficult regulatory and compliance problems faced by fintech businesses of all sizes.

Simply put, we partner with our fintech clients to position them for growth while simultaneously helping to assess and reduce risk in the face of changing regulations, increased scrutiny on fintech providers and greater uncertainty across all economic sectors. We understand that not every fintech enterprise faces the same legal challenges, and are committed to helping our broad base of clients achieve success on their own terms.