We advise financial institutions (including those operating in the form of a branch or representative office or cross-border) on all corporate and regulatory aspects of their operations, as well as compliance with reporting requirements. We assist in obtaining operating licences from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority or filing notifications, and entry in the applicable registers. We review internal regulations for legal compliance and internal consistency.
We also assist in acquisition, merger, spinoff or liquidation of financial institutions, such as banks, brokerages, investment funds and insurance companies.
We advise financial institutions on how to sell their products, directly or through intermediaries, as well as concerning permissible forms of advertising and marketing.
We advise on products offered by financial institutions. We draft internal documentation as well as documentation designed for customers (retail and corporate), and conduct legal audit of solutions currently being used by our clients.
Our advice covers such areas as:
- Electronic services
- Personal data protection
- Combating money laundering: identifying risk areas, drafting internal procedures for combating money laundering, advice on other duties of financial institutions such as “know your customer” requirements and reporting of transactions to regulators
- MiFID regulations: advice concerning internal regulations and customer agreements, compliance with requirements to provide information to customers, and all other legal organisational issues applicable to financial institutions in connection with Polish regulations implementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
- Payment instruments
- Creation of legal structures for payment solutions. We analyse the proposed business and technical solutions in terms of legal compliance, particularly with regulations concerning payment instruments, data protection, consumer rights and electronic services.
- Negotiation and drafting of agreements among participants in payment structures (agreements between professional participants in payment systems, as well as contracts used with merchants and consumers).
- Legal audit of specific payment solutions, including review of documentation for payment services and, where indicated, advice on modifications that should be introduced into documentation and internal regulations.
- Representing clients in inspection proceedings and conducting dialogue with administrative authorities in order to develop remedial measures that are optimal for the client.
- Consumer credit: advice on regulatory requirements for various forms of financing for consumers collectively known as consumer credit (loans, deferred payment and so on)—limitations on interest, requirements for distance selling, electronic services, and electronic payment instruments
- Claims trading (securitisation): Draftingagreements, due diligence of claims, establishment of appropriate forms of security, and so on. We advise on securitisation involving special-purpose vehicles as well as securitisation funds, agreements for sale of claims and administration of securitised claims, and statutes of securitisation funds.
We provide a full range of legal assistance in financing, with specific emphasis on project finance, real estate financing and acquisition financing, as well as debt restructuring.
We advise financial institutions in business crime cases related to operations of financial institutions and public companies.
We represent clients in out-of-court disputes among financial institutions, shareholders and public companies.
We provide services concerning:
- Outsourcing of services by financial institutions
- Intra-group agreements
- Distribution of financial products