Simont Braun

Number of Employees: 60+

Languages: English, French, Dutch, German

Firm Overview: Simont Braun is a Belgian leading independent law firm, offering high-end expertise to national and international clients in all areas of business law: corporate M&A, banking and (digital) finance, intellectual property, IT, data protection, commercial and contract law, real estate and construction law, public and administrative law and tax law. Simont Braun also has in-depth experience in dispute resolution (including arbitration, mediation and Supreme Court litigation).

Simont Braun has a dedicated digital finance team that has become the reference in Belgium.

SECTORS

• Financial Services
• Payment Services
• E-Money
• Crypto Assets Service Providers
• Digital/Challenger Banks
• Mobile Banking
• Crowdfunding/P2P Lending
• Regulated Credits
• Investment Services/Robo-Advisory
• Technical Service Providers

FinTech Practice: Simont Braun’s digital finance team is a multidisciplinary team gathering renowned tech and financial law experts handling FinTech, InsurTech and RegTech-related projects such as crowdfunding, alternative consumer-lending and innovative payments.

The team is integrated into the Belgian Financial Services and FinTech ecosystems and well-connected with regulators, the academic world and service providers on the ground both in Belgium and abroad, resulting in significant expertise in the field.

Most projects require a cross-practice legal analysis — financial regulation, IT contracting and licensing, client contractual relationships, outsourcing, data privacy and security, etc. The digital finance team has in-depth knowledge of these matters and works in an integrated manner with the firm’s other departments to provide comprehensive, streamlined and tailored legal solutions to clients, be they seasoned experts or innovative start-ups.

The team’s practical expertise is constantly adapting to the ever-changing FinTech market and includes impact analysis of regulations, licence acquiring, drafting and negotiating agreements, as well as dispute resolution.

Simont Braun is a founding member and partner of FinTech Belgium, a non-profit organisation representing the Belgian FinTech industry. The firm’s digital finance lawyers are regularly booked for speaking engagements on FinTech issues, additionally working together with universities and business schools on their dedicated FinTech/ financial services programmes and conventions. The two key partners of Simont Braun’s digital finance team are Joan Carette and Philippe De Prez.

Recent Achievements of the Digital Finance Team:

• Assisting a credit institution in building an entirely new offer of digital banking and financial products and services, making it the first of its kind next generation challenger bank in Belgium
• Assisting a large number of Belgian and foreign credit institutions, payment services institutions and e-money institutions with (i) licence applications, (ii) contract drafting, (iii) launching new products and (iv)various financial regulatory queries
• In the Brexit context, advising several FinTech and other financial companies on their (intention to) move to Belgium. Among others, assistance of a world-leading UK FX payment FinTech moving to Belgium and advising a major international crowdfunding platform exploring the possibility to establish itself in Belgium
• Securing a licence as a credit institution for an entity with an innovative sustainable and ethical model, and the first new bank in Belgium in more than 60 years
• Assisting Greece’s biggest Fintech player (payments and e-money) setting up a branch and its business in Belgium
• Advising a major French FX payments provider on regulatory matters
• Successfully setting up and structuring the very first and only peer-to-peer consumer lending platform in Belgium
• Assisting a French digital bank in launching new credit and payment products in Belgium.
• Assisting several clients in the creation of crowdfunding initiatives
• Assisting many clients in data protection matters, such as drafting privacy and cookies policies, marketing issues, IT matters (including reverse engineering, APIs, etc.) and questions on the use of sensitive data, etc.
• Handling the setup and implementation of the first digital ID product in Belgium (itsme) used as a KYC & authentication solution in the public and financial sector