Financial Institutions & Fintech

Arne Grimme + 9 other experts

unique expertise for a unique type of client

Financial Institutions are subject to myriad and ever-evolving regulation affecting their products, services, governance, and processes. Therefore, they need lawyers with a deep understanding of the specific challenges and opportunities they face.

With leading experts in their respective fields, our integrated, multidisciplinary practice has an established track record working both alongside, and within, major financial institutions.

We advise on the most important deals in the financial services market and successfully represent major institutions in litigation, arbitration, and mediation proceedings around the globe.

We help existing market players to navigate fintech developments and to adapt to upcoming regulations, and we advise them seamlessly across borders on the most innovative and complex tech-driven projects and financing.

We also frequently work with emerging fintech companies to achieve their business objectives and protect their intellectual property and know-how within the boundaries of a vast, and sometimes daunting, regulatory regime.

Our Financial Institutions Group is also part of the European Financial Institutions Group set up by our Best Friends Network.

Insights

30 July 2026

Political feasibility − a recurring feature in European bank M&A

Political influence over bank M&A in the EU is not new, but it has rarely been this visible. Over the past two years, three of Europe’s most consequential bank transactions have shown that commercial rationale, competition clearance and prudential approval alone may not determine a transaction’s prospects. Political feasibility can be equally decisive. Then Vice-President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Luis de Guindos, was blunt in a May 2026 exit interview: "Political interference eats away at the credibility of the Single Market message".
25 June 2026

Revised CMDI package: a new era in bank recovery and resolution

On 26 March 2026, the European Parliament approved a substantial legislative amendment to update and strengthen the recovery and resolution rules for the banking sector that the EU put in place after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008. The rules govern how banks in the EU are to be managed when they fail or are at risk of failing. They set out how losses are to be allocated and depositors protected, and enable resolution authorities to intervene in an orderly way. The new Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance (CMDI) package revises those rules to address structural weaknesses that have become apparent over the past decade of implementation, including the unavailability of the resolution framework for smaller and medium-sized banks.
21 May 2026

Dutch senate approves bonus cap relaxation in financial sector

The Dutch parliament's upper house has adopted an amendment that narrows the applicability of the bonus cap at financial institutions in the Netherlands to "identified staff". The amendment forms part of a broader bill amending the Financial Supervision Act (FSA) and related legislation. The bill is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2027.