Payment Systems

The firm “handles the gamut of matters affecting financial institutions in this space, from product development to work involving investments into payments system companies.”

Navigating the Evolving Payment Systems Landscape

Emerging technologies in the mobile and online payments arenas promise to shake up an already dynamic industry – and offer opportunities for financial institutions, merchants, and consumers to reinvent commerce. However, these innovations come to market within an already complicated framework of laws and regulations, and may prompt further legislation.

Our Payment Systems lawyers have the knowledge and firsthand industry experience needed to guide clients through the complex and ever-changing statutory and regulatory environment so they can accomplish their business objectives. Our team regularly represents some of the largest payment systems providers in the world – as well as companies at the forefront of emerging and novel payment systems and markets – on a wide range of transactional and regulatory issues, including product development, consumer compliance, and strategic acquisitions.

A Global Approach to Payment Systems Law

We offer our clients one of the preeminent global payment systems practices. Over the past year, our team has provided advice to clients in the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, India, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan on the complexities of various payment systems laws across the globe, including those of the U.S., Latin America, Austral Asia, and the EU. We have advised clients on the creation of multiple stored value and prepaid card programs in the U.S., EU, and Asia. Currently, we are advising the Russian Central Bank in its implementation of the new Russian National Payments Law.

Our clients include the world’s largest card association and America’s largest electronic bill payment company, second largest money remittance business, and largest issuer of prepaid cards. We also represent numerous other businesses engaged in such diverse areas as check electronification, payment processing, and credit, debit and stored value cards.

Full-Service Legal Counsel

We advise clients on:

• Acquisitions and divestitures of companies, lines of business, and portfolios including merchant processing businesses, electronic payments companies, money transmitters, and financial institutions of all types and sizes
• Joint ventures and strategic alliances, including co-branded and affinity relationships
• New products and services, including the development of reloadable stored value card programs and mobile telephone payments products
• Compliance issues with U.S. federal and state statutes, including obtaining groundbreaking rulings from agencies such as FinCEN, the banking agencies, and state banking departments to address novel and important questions
• Industry guidelines such as the nuances of the ACH and card association rules

Recent Representations

• Currently representing the world’s largest card association in its creation of novel financial products
• Currently advising the largest U.S. stored value card issuer on a variety of regulatory issues
• Advised the world’s largest social network on the creation of virtual currency
• Established a global data processing company on behalf of six international banks to support a multinational corporate card
• Advised three of the largest U.S. banks on the creation of a company engaged in electronic bill presentment
• Helped the largest U.S. bank outsource its electronic payments assets in exchange for $500 million in equity in a processing company
• Advised the largest U.S. electronic bill payment company in establishing direct access to the Fed wire, Visa’s EPay, and MasterCard’s RPPS systems, through which the company transmits over $500 billion annually