Practices

Financial Services Regulation

Our Financial Services Regulatory Group provides a full range of advisory, transactional and compliance services. While regulation can often be complex, our approach is simple. We aim to know the client and the client’s business so that we can grasp the issues quickly and provide the client with a professional, practical and commercially focussed service.

Our expertise:

Our Financial Services Regulatory Group combines excellent legal expertise with an immense depth of experience in all aspects of financial services regulation, including authorisations, EEA passporting, supervisory engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland and other regulatory authorities, conduct of business requirements, compliance projects and regulatory enforcement actions. We work on many of the most innovative transactions in the Irish market and advise on the most complex regulatory issues. Amongst other matters, we provide advice on regulatory capital treatment of structured products and debt instruments, provision of retail and wholesale financial services over the internet, insider dealing and market abuse issues, consumer credit matters and anti-money laundering issues. Our London, New York and Brussels offices provide support on regulatory transactions and projects with an international aspect.

Our clients include retail and wholesale banks, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, retail credit firms, credit servicing firms, insurers and reinsurers, investment firms, FinTech companies, investment managers and funds, brokers, dealers and other intermediaries. We have advised many international banks and other financial institutions on establishing operations (including branches and regulated subsidiaries) in Ireland. We also advise clearing houses, exchanges and other market participants on derivatives-related clearing, settlement and custody issues. The practice has been busy with Brexit-related mandates over the past number of years.

‘‘The firm continues to handle a high volume of fund finance matters, and has an expanding presence in the financial services regulatory sphere. ’’

The Legal 500, 2024

‘‘McCann FitzGerald is well positioned to advise international financial institutions on regulatory and compliance matters within the sector. The law firm provides support in establishing branches and subsidiaries in Ireland, advising on the application process to the Central Bank. ’’

Chambers 2024

‘‘It is an experienced team with very good knowledge of the regulatory and legal environment.’’

Chambers 2024

‘‘McCann FitzGerald is extremely efficient, detailed and commercial in its advice.’’

Chambers 2024

‘‘McCann FitzGerald are an excellent firm, and market leader. Their advice is always thorough yet practical and given their depth of experience they are able to provide exceptional market insight to help steer us in the right direction.’

IFIFLR1000, 2023

Key areas

Our work in this area includes advising:

Authorisation of financial services businesses and other licensing issues
Capital structures, regulatory capital and reserve requirements
Corporate governance and internal control requirements
Remuneration regulation
Conduct of business advisory compliance
Compliance assurance reviews
Fitness and probity and corporate governance requirements
Change of control and acquiring transaction notifications
Purchase and sale of loan portfolios and other financial assets, due diligence exercises
Regulatory investigations, including the administrative sanctions process
Regulatory reporting obligations to the Central Bank of Ireland
Distribution arrangements for financial products and services
Financial e-commerce, payment and mobile banking services
The structuring and distribution of new and innovative products
Financial services compliance support
FinTech