Law firm Hogan Lovells launches Regulatory Accelerator for fintech start-ups

Hogan Lovells, a multinational law firm, has announced that it has launched its new Regulatory Accelerator – an online tool to help fintech firms to understand and navigate the regulatory regime of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as they emerge and scale.

According to the official release, the Regulatory Accelerator, by providing information and guidance on the FCA's regulatory regime, addresses the challenges faced by many fintech companies while designing and scaling a business. This comprises of resources and tools to help fintech to determine whether they are conducting regulated activities or issuing financial promotions.

“We know that the FCA has gone a long way to help with their Regulatory Accelerator programme but we also know that this is not available for everyone, so we have created our own Regulatory Accelerator tool to address the challenges we see FinTech clients facing on a daily basis,” Rachel Kent, Global Head of Hogan Lovells Financial Institutions Sector said. “Hogan Lovells is committed to innovation and to supporting and developing the FinTech community in the UK and globally, and we are also assisting Innovate Finance and the FCA to formulate their proposals for the broader Industry Sandbox."

The Regulatory Accelerator also provides information on the FCA application process, which fintech firms need to demonstrate to the FCA to be eligible for authorization and also the important rules that will apply to the business after authorization.

A survey earlier this year by the law firm’s member Innovate Finance estimated fintech firms cost of getting authorized at approximately £200,000, taking into account both internal resources and external advisers.

“The Regulatory Accelerator is a platform which will enable Innovate Finance members to access the knowledge needed to navigate FCA regulations to better ensure they are fit for market purpose and FCA regulation, rapidly and cost effectively. Hogan Lovells has created an intuitive and easy to use online solution that enables fintech start-ups to map out their regulatory requirements to determine if they need to be regulated, right through to requirements for full authorization," Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO, Innovate Finance said.

Hogan Lovells has been working on innovations and developments in the financial services industry. Few developments include U.K.’s first debit card, advising Zopa on the U.K.’s first peer-to-peer platform and Barclays on the launch of Pingit.