Establishment of a financial institution
Establishment of a financial institution, preparation of a licencing and passporting application package and representing the applicant in proceedings.
Our services can (among other) include:
- Preparation of the client for the licensing process
- Assessment and review of the client’s business plan
- Preparation of the required corporate documents
- Assessment of the compliance of the client’s organisational, internal governance and capital structure and advice on any required restructuring
- Assessment of the managers, key employees, agents and outsourcing partners and drafting required documentation
- Drafting of the required internal and external documents, including internal policies and procedures, client-facing documents (e.g. product terms and conditions, rulebooks), agency and outsourcing contracts, etc
- Putting together documentation with respect to (qualified) shareholders, group structure, funding and source of funds, etc
- Conducting additional analyses and market surveys, etc
- Representing the client in the licencing proceedings with the home and host state supervisors, including providing legal opinions and additional explanations
- Project management and budget control
Regulatory advice in relation to acquiring a (holding in a) financial institution
Regulatory advice in relation to acquiring a (holding in a) financial institution, including conducting legal and regulatory due diligence.
Our services can (among other) include:
- Preparation of the client for the process
- Preparation of the project plan
- Conducting due diligence
- Preparation of the acquisition documentation
- Preparation of the required corporate documents
- Representing the client in the acquisition process with the seller and the financial institution
- Representing the client in the acquisition process with the financial supervision authority, including preparing required documentation, providing legal opinions and additional explanations
- Project management and budget control
Regulatory advice in relation to a merger, division, transformation and termination of a financial institution
Drafting or amending internal policies or procedures
Setting up agency, outsourcing and data reliance arrangements
Agency, outsourcing and data reliance arrangements set up by financial institutions are subject to detailed rules and requirements. Among other things, we can advise you in relation to:
- Managing the project, e.g. preparing a relevant activity plan and timeline
- Conducting necessary risk assessments
- Drafting the relevant corporate decisions
- Drafting the relevant agreements
- Setting up supervision arrangements
- Providing training to employees and partners
- Communicating with supervision authorities, including preparing the required documentation
Preparing client-facing documentation
We can draft or review and amend, for example:
- Privacy and cookie policies
- Complaint handling policies
- Applications and forms
- General terms and conditions
- Product or service-specific terms and conditions
- Admission rules for a multilateral trading facility
- Member rules for a multilateral trading facility
- Content and disclaimers for webpages
- Marketing materials
Among other things, we have helped our clients to align their client-facing terms and conditions, making them applicable in different jurisdictions to the extent permitted by the laws applicable in the relevant jurisdictions.
Providing legal opinions in relation to various regulatory and compliance matters
PwC is respected and reliable advisor. We can provide legal opinions to our clients, their investors, business partners or supervisors in relation to multitude of regulatory and compliance matters, e.g. in relation to compliance with:
- Anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws and regulations
- PSD2 strong customer authentication requirements
- Responsible lending requirements
Conducting regulatory and compliance audits
Advice in relation to on-site and off-site inspections by supervision authorities
We can support you throughout the on-site or off-site inspection process including:
- Guide the client through the inspection process
- Conduct necessary legal and regulatory analysis and propose answers
- Draft and amend internal policies and procedures and other documents, as might be necessary
- Represent the client with supervision authority
Client on-boarding services
We offer client (natural and legal persons) onboarding services to credit and financial institutions and other obliged entities. The scope of our services depends on the limitations set forth by law, our client’s internal policies, procedures and needs and the agreement concluded with the client regarding the division of responsibilities.
Our services may include (but are not limited to):
- Identification of the client and verification of the information from a reliable and independent source
- Identification and verification of the representative of the client and their right of representation
- Identification of the beneficial owner(s) of the client and taking reasonable measures to ascertain their identity and understanding the ownership and control structure of the client
- Understanding the business relationship
- PEP status control
- Gathering information on the origin of the client’s wealth
- Gathering information on the property used in the transaction
- International sanctions screening
Subject to your approval, we may cooperate with various reliable and experienced partners.
