The financial regulation team at Simont Braun is particularly impressive in guiding foreign financial service providers through Belgian regulations and assisting them with entry to the Belgian market. Within financial services regulation the team handle advisory work, licensing applications, and contractual work alongside digital finance work. Joan Carette assists banks, e-money institutions, payment institutions, and fintechs in legal and regulatory issues. Philippe De Prez has a strong reputation advising fintech companies. Thomas Derval has combined advisory and litigation experience, and was promoted to partner in January 2025.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘They supported us not only with an extremely high level of technical expertise, but also an outstanding personal character.’
- ‘Their clear communication has indicated the way to go and your advice have been both: encouraging as well as restraining, whenever and wherever applicable. They were responsive and prompt.’
- ‘Simont Braun’s financial services team has seamless cross-practice collaboration, bringing together experts from financial law, public law, and litigation and transforming their input into actionable advice. The level of service is consistently outstanding, and their integrated approach makes their firm standout on the market. I cannot recommend them enough.’
- ‘Thomas Derval is both extremely friendly and responsive. He maintains a helicopter view of all aspects of the file, ensuring that every piece fits into a coherent strategy. His advice is consistently clear and pragmatic and we feel we’re in good hands. I’m particularly impressed by his versatility. He navigates easily across contract law, financial regulation, and litigation, and demonstrates deep expertise in each area.’
- ‘Simont Braun was responsive and answered to our request clearly, demonstrating its ability to understand our operational and commercial challenges.’
- ‘Our main contact was Philippe De Prez. He demonstrated his understanding of our operational and commercial challenges and made sure to answer within the deadline.’
Key clients
- Revolut
- ABN Amro
- Buy Way Personal Finance
- Cofidis
- Aion Bank
- Mercedes-Benz Financial Services
- NewB and NewB Invest
- Youlend
- Belgian Mobile ID (itsme)
Work highlights
Assist Revolut on an almost daily basis and intervene on a great variety of legal and regulatory issues including product documentation, design of in-app customer journey, distribution strategy as well as with the launch of the Belgian branch.
Assist Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, the financial leg of Mercedes-Benz, with all aspect related to their new distribution model, including payment and financing structures.
Advising on the relevant regulatory framework (AML aspects, PSD2 (SCA), eIDAS, GDPR, outsourcing rules, etc.) and assisting with the contractual framework (negotiations and contracts with providers, B2B clients and B2C clients).
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
Joan Carette; Philippe De Prez; Thomas Derval