Osborne Clarke LLP‘s practice is hailed as being ’industry-leading with respect to payment services and FCA regulation’, with the practice geared to advise on strategic regulatory and consumer credit matters, open banking solutions and projects such as CashPlus Bank’s transformation from a payments service partner into a PRA authorised challenger bank. Contentious regulatory matters and retail finance are further strengths. Practice co-chair Paul Anning has developed a market reputation for his work on issues such as embedded finance and e-money. Fellow co-head Nikki Worden's expertise in regulated lending and banking is valued by clients such as digital banks and consumer lending platforms. Rachel Couter specialises in financial services regulatory investigations. Paul Harris is equipped to assist clients looking to add cryptocurrencies and crypto-related payments to their service offering.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The practice at Osborne Clarke is industry-leading with respect to payment services and FCA regulation. Many firms claim to have the expertise that this firm has but from experience that is not always true.'
- 'The team has well rounded expertise and are pragmatic at proposing solutions to the challenges we face as a business.'
‘Rosie Wrobel is the perfect legal partner for us as a client. She has incredible attention to detail and is very commercial. She is thoughtful about business impact and is always at hand to help.'
- 'Paul Harris is concise, commercial and extremely hands-on with his advice.’
'The team have positioned themselves as leaders in fintech - they really understand their clients' businesses and provide very pragmatic advice.’
‘Nikki Worden has a huge breadth of knowledge, is extremely pragmatic and commercial and solutions-focussed - a joy to work with.’
‘Very practical and approachable. The lawyers at OC tend to have in house experience and do not overcook their involvement or advice - they try to provide advice that is cost effective and in a form you can use within the business (i.e. plain English). They are thoroughly decent people and easy to work with. ’
‘Nikki Worden has such energy and passion for her work - she is also so quick, and her advice so dense with detail, that we can chat for half an hour and I feel I have got two hours worth of content. Nikki is inspiring, approachable, and incredibly well respected throughout the industry.’
Key clients
- Clearpay Finance Limited
- ClearBank Limited
- GoHenry Limited
- Mastercard
- UK Finance Limited
- Netwealth
- CashPlus Bank (Advanced Payment Solutions)
- Block, Inc (fka Square)
- Plaid Financial Ltd
- Railsbank Technology Limited (in administration), and its administrators Alvarez & Marsal
Work highlights
- Advising on Clerabank's embedded finance proposition with Tide, and working with Dutch colleagues on their application as a bank in the Netherlands.
- Working with administrators on the wind-down of BaaS provider Railsbank.
- Advising GoHenry on product range of its child-focussed finfech platform and investments platform proposition.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Leading associates
Leading associates with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Practice head
Paul Anning; Nikki Worden
Other key lawyers
Rachel Couter; Paul Harris; Becky Morrison; Ben Player