Clifford Chance

Fintech is on fire. In the first half of 2021 alone, UK fintechs raised $5.7bn of venture capital investment. Revolut raised $800m at a £24bn valuation in July 2021, making it the UK’s most valuable fintech, while Wise completed the first direct listing of shares on the London Stock Exchange, at a $11bn valuation. Meanwhile, longer established financial institutions continue to develop their own fintech products, and look acquisitively at smaller startups.

But alongside the growth and excitement comes a constantly evolving regulatory environment, and legal ambiguity.

We teamed up with Crafty Counsel to go deep on fintech in the UK, focusing on the fast-growing payments and crypto markets. What keeps clients awake at night? What are the big market trends? What are the regulators thinking?

Each video tackles one aspect of the fintech legal environment that is relevant right now, focusing on the practicalities and market intelligence.

Video Five: “Are the regulators coming? The state of enforcement action in UK payments”

It’s one thing to know what the regulations say. It’s another to have a feel for what the regulators are doing and taking an interest in.

Eleanor Matthews (Senior Associate) and Ben Jasper (Senior Associate) talk through the current focus of regulatory enforcement in the Payments sector, looking at the Financial Conduct Authority, Payment Systems Regulator, and Competition and Markets Authority. They cover recent enforcement action, including the European Commission’s action against Apple Pay for alleged abuse of market dominance, and the FCA’s censure of Premier FX for failures in safeguarding customer funds and for misuse of its payment accounts.